Cold weather boosts profits for Centrica July 28, 2010 BRITISH Gas owner Centrica beat forecasts yesterday by posting a first-half operating profit of £1.56bn. Profit rose 65 per cent in the last six months, bolstered by the UK’s coldest winter in 30 years upping energy consumption. Revenues for the period were comparable to the same time last year, at £11.7bn, though the firm added [...]
BG Group earnings hurt by writedown July 28, 2010 GAS producer BG Group reported a 19 per cent rise in underlying profit last quarter, mostly due to higher worldwide gas and oil prices. However, its second-quarter net profit fell 21 per cent to $602m (£385m) after heavy losses on asset disposals and commodities contracts. BG wrote off $255m invested in a well in the [...]
Centrica July 28, 2010 BUMPER profits at energy providers are something of a double-edged sword. Shareholders might cheer, but populist denunciations and cries of “excess” are sure to follow. Centrica investors should ignore the scrum for now, however, and bask in the glory: this is as good as it gets. Falling wholesale prices coupled with a bitterly cold winter [...]
Peugeot grim after profit July 28, 2010 FRENCH carmaker Peugeot Citroen warned its second-half performance would be hampered by a tougher economic environment, yesterday sending its shares lower even though it swung to a first-half profit. Shares fell sharply following the announcement, before closing down four per cent at €23.89 (£19.90). Europe’s second-largest carmaker behind Volkswagen posted first-half recurring operating income of [...]
BBVA beats forecasts to issue bonds July 28, 2010 SPAIN’S second largest bank, BBVA, beat analyst forecasts yesterday with a 9.7 per cent drop in net profit for the first half of the year, and stepped back into the bond market for the first time since the crisis. Net profit fell to €1.3bn (£1.1bn), beating forecasts of €2.45bn in a Reuters poll but dropping [...]
Japanese banks face uncertainty July 28, 2010 JAPAN’S third-biggest bank stuck to its full-year forecast yesterday despite reporting robust first-quarter earnings, due to uncertainty about the economic outlook. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SFMG) said net profit soared nearly three-fold to 211.8bn yen (£1.55bn) in the three months to the end of June. Citigroup analyst Hironari Nozaki had forecast the bank would earn [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE CITY TAKE A LESSON FROM THE CONTINENT AND CLOSE DURING AUGUST? July 28, 2010 BEREND VAN LUIK | DAIWA CAPITAL “It’s not possible in this country. Here, a lot of people work through their holidays anyway. In the Netherlands, each region has a different holiday period, which is optional but it helps to plan projects if you know roughly when everyone will be away.” MICK ROBERTS | MITEL NETWORKS [...]
King remains dovish about UK outlook July 28, 2010 BANK OF ENGLAND governor Mervyn King yesterday staunchly defended the continued need for ultra-loose monetary policy but warned that high inflation could continue to erode households’ earnings power over the next year or so. Speaking in front of the Treasury Select Committee, King denied that the strong second quarter GDP growth reading meant that the [...]
House prices inched higher in June, says Land Registry July 28, 2010 HOUSE prices in England and Wales rose 0.1 per cent on the month and 8.4 per cent on the year in June, figures from the Land Registry showed yesterday. The government agency said the average price of a home was now £166,072. House prices are now around the same levels that they were in the [...]
ECB gets tough on bank lending July 28, 2010 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) yesterday unveiled a tougher stance on lending, subjecting banks to more stringent penalties for borrowing from the ECB using more risky assets as collateral. Banks in Greece, Portugal, Spain and other heavily indebted parts of the Eurozone have been locked out of normal bank-to-bank lending markets during the most turbulent [...]
