Clinton cards sales rise as cost cutting pays off March 25, 2010 BRITISH greeting cards retailer Clinton Cards posted a 26 per cent rise in first-half adjusted pre-tax profit yesterday, helped by higher sales across all product categories. The firm, which put its Birthdays brand into administration last year and later bought back 196 of those stores, said it would seek the board’s approval to repurchase up [...]
3i launches its growth fund with €1.2bn March 25, 2010 LISTED private equity giant 3i is closing in on several more deals for its new growth capital fund after announcing the first investment, fruit juice maker Refresco, yesterday. The mid-market specialist has launched the fund with €1.2bn (£1.1bn) assets under management. Some analysts were disappointed at the amount supplied by external investors – €400m. But [...]
Lupus Capital swings into the red after boardroom battle with Greg Hutchings March 25, 2010 LUPUS Capital, the industrial buyout group, swung into the red over the past year during a period of board upheaval that saw the firm oust entrepreneur Greg Hutchings as chairman. Lupus said yesterday it made a pre-tax loss of £649,000 for the year to December, compared with a profit of £10.79m in 2008. Revenue fell [...]
Deutsche bid for Arriva is not certain March 25, 2010 Deutsche Bahn (DB) has not decided if it might try to buy British train and bus operator Arriva and will bid only if the move makes economic sense, the German state railways’ chief executive said. “We have decided to enter into talks with Arriva. It is still unknown if these talks will lead to DB [...]
BA and Iberia days away from March completion of merger March 25, 2010 BRITISH Airways (BA) and Spanish carrier Iberia are just days away from completion of their planned merger as both say they are on course for a March completion. Expectations that the two would sign the merger yesterday were quashed after Iberia made no announcements prior to a board meeting. The deal is expected to be [...]
More Madoff fraud charges March 25, 2010 A former top aide to swindler Bernard Madoff and two of his defunct firm’s computer programmers pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of making up investor records. The charges are against former Madoff firm director of operations Daniel Bonventre and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez.
Ireland’s GDP falls sharply March 25, 2010 Ireland’s economy shrank far more than forecast in the fourth quarter of 2009 and revisions showed it did not exit Europe’s longest-running recession last year. GDP fell by 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from the preceding quarter, data showed yesterday, more than the 0.7 per cent drop expected.
BAE Systems secures key contract wins March 25, 2010 BAE Systems yesterday won a £127m four-year contract to produce the specification for development and manufacture of a new class of British warship. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth said he had also agreed for BAE to start building the fifth of a planned seven Astute class submarines in Barrow-in-Furness in northwest England, and begin procurement for [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK THESE CONTRACT WINS ARE FOR BAE SYSTEMS? March 25, 2010 HENK POTTS | BARCLAYS WEALTH These are clearly positive deals for both BAE’s long-term performance and the thousands of people who work there. More importantly, it indicates BAE is still at the cutting edge of technological design and able to win significant orders. The wins are also good for its international standing. JUSTIN URQUHART STEWART [...]
IFS: Darling not clear on where cuts will be made March 25, 2010 GOVERNMENT departments will be faced with swingeing cuts to their budgets over the next four years as the Treasury tries to plug the £51bn black hole in the country’s public finances, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned yesterday The think-tank slated the government for not providing the necessary detail on how it would repair [...]
