Northumbrian posts jump in profit after review of prices June 1, 2011 NORTHUMBRIAN Water yesterday reported a higher annual pre-tax profit, helped by an increase in water and sewerage charges and steady demand from its customers. Pre-tax profit rose six per cent to £181m in the year to the end of March, slightly above estimates of £177.6m. Sales were up five per cent at £738.1m, in line [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS WOLSELEY HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? June 1, 2011 TONY SHEPARD | CHARLES STANLEY “The group is finishing the year on a strong note and it is still undergoing a transformation. There was no comment from the company on further disposals. Longer-term, there should be opportunities to improve the group profit margin. Our recommendation remains “accumulate”.” ADRIAN KEARSEY | EVOLUTION SECURITIES “Welcome news on [...]
RAMSAY COOKS UP A PROFIT June 1, 2011 GORDON Ramsay shrugged off the acrimonious sacking of his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson last October to post an overall return to profit for his companies yesterday. Cost cuts and the sale of Boxwood Cafe pushed pre-tax profit at Gordon Ramsay Holdings to £2.05m in the year to August 2010, from £0.57m in 2009, although sales fell [...]
Dixons to get £59m as part of lease deal June 1, 2011 ELECTRICALS retailer Dixons has agreed the sale and leaseback of its Nordic distribution centre in Sweden in a bid to reduce its debts. Dixons, which owns the Currys and PC World brands, has exchanged contracts with a syndicate of investors with a deal due for completion on 23 June. The total cash payable is SEK600m [...]
Home Retail execs in line for pay hikes despite profit drop June 1, 2011 HOME Retail Group executives are in line for pay rises despite a tough year in which the company issued a profit warning. The owner of Homebase and Argos proposed in its annual report that chief executive Terry Duddy and finance director Richard Ashton should receive raises. Under the remuneration proposal, to be presented to shareholders [...]
Topps Tiles hit as sales decline June 1, 2011 SHARES in Topps Tiles fell almost six per cent yesterday to 63.75p after the wood and tile flooring firm posted lower underlying profit in the first half and gave a cautious outlook. It said like-for-like sales were down 2.1 per cent in the past seven weeks, compared with an increase of 1.8 per cent over [...]
P&O Cruises to get largest liner June 1, 2011 P&O CRUISES owner Carnival has ordered a new 141,000 tonne cruise liner, which will be the largest built specifically for the British market. The liner, costing £489m and scheduled to enter service in March 2015, will be built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The as-yet unnamed ship will be able to carry a maximum of 4,372 [...]
Nokia denies Microsoft is lining up offer June 1, 2011 BELEAGUERED Nokia was yesterday forced to deny speculation it is in talks to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft. The Finnish manufacturer described the report – by the same industry insider who predicted its tie-up with the software giant earlier this year – as “100 per cent baseless”. Eldar Murtazin says Microsoft is lining [...]
Odeon buys Irish cinemas for £60m June 1, 2011 ODEON & UCI, the cinema chain owned by Guy Hands’ private equity house Terra Firma, bought nine cinemas in Ireland and two build sites for new complexes for £60m yesterday. The chain used some of the proceeds of its recent £500m bond issue on the purchase, which will add 77 new screens to its Ireland [...]
Sega exec warns of skills shortage June 1, 2011 SEGA boss Mike Hayes has warned the UK could be heading for a digital skills shortage. In an interview with City A.M. the European boss of the gaming giant said he is forced to hire a lot of staff from outside the UK because of a chronic lack of programming skills. He said: “We could [...]
