Fiberweb in £25m rights issue March 2, 2011 Nonwoven fabrics manufacturer Fiberweb yesterday launched a rights issue to raise £25.4m gross to help it to finance acquisitions. The one-for-three rights issue at 60p a share, a discount of two-fifths to yesterday’s share price, will raise £23.9m after expenses. It also revealed 2010 revenues rose to £463.2m – up from £454.2m – with underlying [...]
Robert Walters in profit rebound March 2, 2011 Recruiter Robert Walters posted a rebound in 2010 pre-tax profit, fuelled by its Asia-Pacific arm, and said its outlook for 2011 was broadly positive. The company, which specialises in placing people in accountancy, engineering and IT, said pretax profit in 2010 was £13.1m, up from £1.3m the year before. Revenues were 41 per cent higher [...]
ITV cheers profits surge on ad rebound March 2, 2011 ITV chief executive Adam Crozier was yesterday riding the crest of the advertising wave as his firm trebled its pre-tax profits to £321m. TV ad revenues buoyed by hit shows including Simon Cowell’s X-Factor, soared 16 per cent and the firm is on track to beat analyst expectations for the first-quarter of 2011. But behind [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: ARE ITV’S RESULTS AS GOOD AS THEY LOOK? March 2, 2011 LORNA TILBIAN | NUMIS ITV was one of our key picks for 2011 and we retain our ‘buy’ recommendation. The first-quarter is up 12 per cent and April is currently 8-12 per cent better, though comparatives get markedly harder through 2011, particularly due to the World Cup. We are raising our target price to 115p. [...]
Yahoo close to selling its stake in Japanese JV March 2, 2011 Yahoo could soon sell its Japanese joint venture to free up as much as $8bn (£4.9bn) to fight Google and Facebook in its core markets. A deal to transfer Yahoo’s 35 per cent stake in Yahoo Japan to Softbank, which already controls 42 per cent of the unit, could come within a few weeks, people [...]
Whitbread in sales setback from Premier March 2, 2011 WHITBREAD yesterday reported slowing sales growth at its Premier Inn chain and warned over tough times for consumers. The group, which also owns Britain’s biggest coffee shop chain Costa, reported sales growth of 5.1 per cent at Premier Inn hotels open for more than a year in the quarter to 17 February, a slowdown from [...]
Rich rewards for Coffee Nation team after sale March 2, 2011 COFFEE Nation’s chief executive Scott Martin and his team will be sharing an estimated £11.9m pot after Whitbread yesterday announced that it had paid £59.5m in cash for the company. The management team bought the self service coffee company in 2008 with private equity backing from Investec and Milestone Capital. Other Coffee Nation executives in [...]
Starbucks launches new brews March 2, 2011 STARBUCKS is unveiling a range of new filter coffees in the UK following the success of its “flat white”. The coffee giant’s Starbucks Reserve is being touted as its smoothest brew ever. It will be available at selected outlets and the Hix Restaurant and Champagne Bar in Selfridges on Oxford Street. There will be three [...]
ADIDAS IN RECORD SALES FUELLED BY CHINA March 2, 2011 ADIDAS, which sponsors British tennis player Andy Murray, yesterday posted record sales and raised its 2011 sales goal as buyers in emerging markets such as China buoyed its figures. The group reported yearly sales of €11.99bn (£10.2bn). Chief executive Herbert Hainer said: “2011 is shaping up to be another great year for the Adidas group [...]
Camelot loses terminal ruling March 2, 2011 Lottery firm Camelot received a body blow yesterday when it was told it will not be allowed to use its terminals to sell other services such as bill payments or mobile phone top ups. The final decision by the National Lottery Commission confirms its provisional ruling issued last July and follows a period of consultation. [...]
