Flight to quality in stores February 2, 2010 Intense competition among Britain’s top grocers has hit sales growth at smaller hard discounters Aldi and Lidl, while Asda has suffered most from recent severe weather, market researchers said yesterday. Kantar Worldpanel, the new name for TNS Worldpanel, said sales at Britain’s grocers rose 5.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 24 January, helped [...]
Morgan Stanley and BoA shake-up pay February 2, 2010 BANK of America has set aside more than $4bn (£2.5bn) in pay for its investment bankers and traders, but only a quarter of compensation is expected to be paid in cash. In an attempt to strike a conciliatory note in the face of public pressure, BoA will give its top talent the remainder of their [...]
CIC puts cash into Apax fund February 2, 2010 China Investment Corp has pumped €685m (£599m) into Apax Partners’ €11.2bn fund after the Financial Services Authority gave clearance for the deal. The cash injection, which will see CIC take a 2.3 per cent stake in the management company, gives the Chinese entity access to Apax’s future investments while existing clients now have the liquidity [...]
NUMIS OFF TO A POSITIVE START February 2, 2010 Stockbroker Numis struck an upbeat note at its annual meeting yesterday, telling investors it had enjoyed a strong start to its financial year. Chairman Sir David Arculus said Numis had completed 13 separate transactions for customers since September, accounting for £628m in equity capital. “We have attracted 10 new corporate clients and the number of [...]
Lower profits prompt share sell-off at BP February 2, 2010 OIL major BP said yesterday that annual profits nearly halved last year as the global economic slump slashed demand for oil, forcing it to cut thousands of jobs and to warn of a slower turnaround in its business this year. BP’s profit in 2009 fell 45 per cent to $13.9bn (£8.7bn) as weaker demand for [...]
Kraft finally wins Cadbury February 2, 2010 US food group Kraft has finally swallowed up Dairy Milk chocolate maker Cadbury after investors backed the £11.7bn deal. Shareholders holding nearly 72 per cent of Cadbury’s stock have accepted Kraft’s offer for the 186-year-old company, comfortably exceeding the 50 per cent plus one share it needed to take control. Kraft will be able to [...]
Rivals are still worse off February 2, 2010 EXPECTATIONS for BP’s full year results were extraordinarily high, but investors were kidding themselves if they thought the firm could shake off the industry blues entirely. Most were probably carried away by the smashing third quarter results that were 48 per cent ahead of consensus. Still, a weak performance at the group’s refining business dragged [...]
Watchdog says proprietary trading not at root of crisis February 2, 2010 THE regulator of the largest US banks said yesterday that proprietary trading was not at the root of the financial crisis and warned that excessive limits could impair some of banks’ central functions. John Dugan, comptroller of the currency, told reporters: “It’s one thing to talk about pure proprietary trading as a business where the [...]
Five blue chip bosses back Tory pledges February 2, 2010 THE TORIES yesterday wheeled out a series of business leaders who support their plans for the economy. Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis and Kingfisher boss Ian Cheshire were among five FTSE 100 bosses endorsing a new set of Tory policies that included a pledge to safeguard Britain’s AAA credit rating. Autonomy chief executive Mike Lynch, [...]
CITY VIEWS: are you upset by cadbury being taken over by kraft? February 2, 2010 GEORGINA PARKER | NICOLL CURTIN “To be honest, as long as it doesn’t affect the chocolate I don’t really mind. Of course, I’d be very upset if Cadbury’s giant buttons and Cadbury’s caramel weren’t being sold any more, so I hope it doesn’t affect that.” GILLIAN RUBY | TOWERGATE “I think it’s very sad. It’s [...]
