Punch profit falls as business splits April 12, 2011 PUNCH Taverns yesterday reported a fall in half-year profits, as it splits into two separate businesses. Pre-tax profits for the 28 weeks to 5 March came in at £61m, down from the £66m recorded a year earlier. Like-for-like sales at the group’s managed pubs rose 4.9 per cent over the period, and by 8.2 per [...]
Unilever likely to face fine for fixing wash powder price April 12, 2011 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever, which makes Persil, is expected to be fined today by competition watchdogs for fixing prices in the washing powder market. The Anglo-Dutch firm, together with Ariel maker Procter & Gamble, is understood to have struck a deal with the European Commission that will see it receive a reduced penalty in exchange [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW SHOULD INVESTORS VIEW PUNCH AHEAD OF ITS DEMERGER? April 12, 2011 SIMON FRENCH | PANMURE The group will announce a finance director for Spirit and a chairman for Punch Taverns in due course. We reiterate our ‘Buy’ recommendation and 100p price target based on our sum-of-the-parts analysis. The group has made a good start to quarter-three in both managed and leased divisions. JAMES DAWSON | CHARLES [...]
WAITROSE SALES SIZZLE April 12, 2011 SALES at Waitrose soared by 23.7 per cent for the week ending 10 April, it revealed yesterday, as the hot weather saw people head outdoors to eat. Sales of barbecue food were up 566 per cent on the same period last year. Sales of side salads were up 128 per cent, dressed salads were up [...]
Oddbins poised for sale April 12, 2011 Wine retailer Oddbins will be sold within seven days, the company’s administrator Deloitte announced yesterday. Oddbins has an annual turnover of £75m, including £2m of online sales, and has already “received interest from a number of parties”, said Deloitte. Oddbins called in the administrators earlier this month and 400 jobs are at risk.
Flowers Foods in acquisition April 12, 2011 Bakery company Flowers Foods is buying Tastykake-maker Tasty Baking Co, for £21.09m in an all-cash deal. Flowers, whose brands include Nature’s Own and Whitewheat, will add between $115-$125m (£70-77m) in 2011 sales with the acquisition. Deals in the snack food sector over the past year include the acquisition of Pringles by Diamond Foods from P&G.
Ocado hires eBay executive April 12, 2011 Ocado has added eBay executive Doug McCallum to its board. He joins the online grocer as a non-executive director on 3 October. McCallum is currently European senior vice-president of eBay and previously ran the internet giant’s UK business for several years. Ocado chairman Lord Grade added: “Doug’s high-level background in e-commerce and IT is a [...]
Just three weeks to go to get your entries in for the City’s best awards April 12, 2011 THERE are just three weeks left to get those entries in for City A.M.’s second awards ceremony where we will be celebrating the best of London’s financial business community and its most successful individuals and firms. Anybody present at last year’s inaugural ceremony will bear testimony to the fact that the City A.M. awards have [...]
Non-European exports cut UK trade gap April 12, 2011 EXPORTS beyond the European Union helped narrow the UK’s trade gap to £2.4bn in February, in from £3.9bn in January. The deficit in visible goods traded fell by £1bn in the month, to drop to £6.8bn – its lowest rate for a year, surprising economists. Within the EU, exports from the UK actually fell by [...]
Finance jobs boom in east April 12, 2011 HIGHLY skilled westerners will increasingly migrate to emerging economies in the east, new research revealed yesterday. Booming economies such as China and India will require more intermediary services such as those provided by the financial and business sectors, a report by Oxford Economics claimed. “I foresee a lot of people in the west moving to [...]
