Close Bros sells offshore arm March 10, 2011 Close Brothers Group is selling its trust, fund administration, asset management and banking business in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man to Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands Holdings for £29.1m in cash. The group said the sale, which is subject to regulatory approval, would further streamline its asset management division and was consistent with its [...]
Savings boost lifts profits at Standard Life March 10, 2011 By LIFE assurance and pensions group Standard Life has seen a leap in profits to £425m, driven by appetite for long-term savings. Investors boosted the Edinburgh-based firm, with long-term savings net flows up 77 per cent to £4.7bn. Assets under administration at the group stood at £196.8bn. Changes to the way pensions are linked to [...]
Cash generation spooks investors March 10, 2011 THE UK saver is back saving. That was the view of analysts at Investec yesterday, after Standard Life reported a seven per cent rise in operating profits to £425m, according to IFRS standards. That was flattered by an unexpected £59m pension gain, but Investec saw significant positives, including big regulatory changes in the UK which [...]
Schroders sees inflows double to record £27bn March 10, 2011 WEALTH manager Schroders saw profits more than triple last year, driven by record net inflows. Profits before tax hit £407m, up from £137.5m a year earlier, outpacing consensus expectations of around £384m. Earnings per share also trebled from 34.3p to 111.7p, helping to boost its share price by around one per cent. The firm increased [...]
Home Retail shares hit in profit alert March 10, 2011 HOME Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase, issued a profit warning yesterday, saying worried shoppers were reining in their spending. The company said that it now expected pre-tax profit for the year to 26 February to be between £250m and £255m. In January it had forecast full-year year profit of about £263m, down [...]
WM Morrison in £32m deal to prepare ground for web war March 10, 2011 WM MORRISON yesterday announced a £32m deal to purchase a ten per cent stake in New York-based online grocer FreshDirect, as it prepares the ground to take on rivals on the web. Under the terms of the deal, Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips will take a seat on the board, and top Morrisons executives will [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL THE SUPERMARKET’S PLANS ATTRACT INVESTORS? March 10, 2011 PHILIP DORGAN | ALTIUM SECURITIES Morrisons has grown its sales, profits, margins and return on capital. Not bad considering the state of the consumer economy. It is to return £1bn to shareholders over the next two years and has committed to double digit dividend growth. We are maintaining our ‘buy’ recommendation. RICHARD HUNTER | HARGREAVES [...]
Cineworld looks for 3D boost March 10, 2011 Cineworld said yesterday new blockbusters should lift business this year as its profit was hit by the poor weather before Christmas. The group said 2011 promised to be a big year with a schedule which includes new Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes films and a number of 3D movies, following the success of Avatar. Cineworld [...]
Punch Taverns sales on the rise March 10, 2011 Shares in Britain’s biggest pubs group Punch Taverns jumped yesterday after it posted an increase in second-quarter sales and says it remains on track to meet its full-year expectations. The owner of Chef & Brewer and Fayre & Square said its success has been triggered by its new look pubs. Like-for-like sales at its managed [...]
ARM falls on fears of tablet PC supply glut March 10, 2011 ARM Holdings shares nose dived 8.97 per cent yesterday amid fears non-iPad tablets are vastly over supplied. The UK chip designer supplies around 95 per cent of chips for smartphones and has already cornered the nascent tablet market. A JP Morgan analyst this week forecast the glut of tablets – an estimated 81m this year [...]
