Room to improve for new Waterstones owner August 23, 2011 EARLIER this summer A&NN Capital Fund Management bought Waterstones, the bookseller, from HMV. So this week we’ve looked at some of the detailed BrandIndex scores to see what opportunities and threats the brand faces. Arguably Waterstones’ biggest challenge over the past few years has been the emergence of Amazon as an online retailer whose lack [...]
Heinz beats profit forecast on growth in emerging markets but shares slide August 23, 2011 HEINZ yesterday reported quarterly profit that beat analysts expectations, with a boost from by growth in emerging markets. However, the group’s shares fell as much as three per cent as a gloomy outlook on costs unnerved investors. The company has made recent acquisitions in China and Brazil, which has helped to offset sluggish growth in [...]
Pendragon weathers end of scrappage scheme as its earnings and volumes rise August 23, 2011 CAR dealer Pendragon reported a higher first-half profit yesterday, helped by an increase in used-vehicle volumes, and said it continues to perform in line with expectations for the year despite the end of the car scrappage scheme. Britain’s largest motor retailer said like-for-like used-car volumes rose 13.2 per cent over the last year. But the [...]
H&T boosted by gold price August 23, 2011 Pawnbroker H&T Group said it expected full-year results to be above the top end of current market expectations, driven mainly by surging gold prices that boosted its first-half pre-tax profit. Spot gold prices soared above $1,910 yesterday, scoring a record high for a fourth consecutive day, as persistent worries about global economic growth burnished bullion’s [...]
Cash Converters in record profit August 23, 2011 Payday loans and pawn broking specialist Cash Converters yesterday unveiled a record net profit of $27.6m (£16.7m) for the year to the end of June – 27.5 per cent up on last year. Revenues rose by 47.6 per cent to $186.1m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 28.6 per cent to [...]
Shard steel firm slashes dividend August 23, 2011 Structural steel company Severfield-Rowen reported a lower first-half pre-tax profit yesterday, hurt by a weak construction market in the UK, but said it would meet its full-year expectations. The company, which is supplying steel for the Shard London Bridge, cut its interim dividend by 70 per cent to 1.5p a share. For the six months [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 23, 2011 Sciens Management Holdings The provider of fund of funds and managed account services has hired two senior executives to its London team. Stavros Siokos (pictured) has joined as president and Michael Hart joins as senior marketing director. Siokos was formerly head of investment management at Piraeus Bank in Greece and an MD in the equities [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 23, 2011 TUI TRAVEL RBS rates the tour operator as a “buy” with a target price of 300p, and says market misconceptions about the sector and general market volatility have creating a buying opportunity. The brokers believe package holidays will survive the competitive threat of DIY holidays, and says Thomas Cook’s struggles have had a unwarranted drag [...]
FTSE 100 rallies on hope of new stimulus from the Fed August 23, 2011 Britain’s top shares rose yesterday on hopes the US Federal Reserve is close to announcing new stimulus measures, and China and euro zone purchasing data were not as bad as feared. Strong results and an upbeat outlook statement propelled security services firm G4S up 8.5 per cent to top the FTSE 100 list in volume more [...]
Banking and tech stocks lead surge August 23, 2011 US stocks shot three per cent higher yesterday on speculation Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke this week would signal new help for the economy, giving investors hope a four-week rout was nearing an end. Weak data in housing and regional factory activity triggered the latest round of bets that Bernanke will act, even though the [...]
