Shell hikes dividend as weak oil and gas prices hit earnings January 31, 2013 OIL GIANT Royal Dutch Shell unveiled a 4.7 per cent jump in its dividend payout yesterday despite posting a slump in full-year earnings. Annual earnings on a current cost of supply basis dropped six per cent to $27bn (£17.07bn) compared with $28.6bn in 2011 – as it was hit by weaker oil and gas prices [...]
Analyst Views | Were Shell’s results what you were expecting? January 31, 2013 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The numbers have failed to inspire against the backdrop of a generally lacklustre market. Overall profit was shy of expectations, costs are on an upward trend within the industry and the weakness of the gas price has impacted on Shell. MALCOLM GRAHAM-WOOD VSA CAPITAL The results didn’t blow the market away [...]
Kingfisher puts B&Q’s Ireland unit into bankruptcy protection January 31, 2013 B&Q IRELAND was placed into a form of bankruptcy protection yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to save the loss-making chain. The company, which is owned by FTSE 100 group Kingfisher, operates nine stores in the Republic of Ireland but has been hit by the downturn in household spending. It has also failed to renegotiate rents [...]
Dragon Jones breathes new life into Jessops January 31, 2013 CAMERA brand Jessops, which saw its shops collapse into administration last month, has been sold to a group of buyers including Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones, administrators said yesterday. The deal, structured by administrators PwC, involves the sale of Jessops’ 78- year old brand, existing stock and “intellectual property”, which involves non-physical assets like trademarks [...]
New AstraZeneca boss sees big fall in profit and sales January 31, 2013 ASTRAZENECA’s new boss said yesterday that the drug maker faced a tough year, with sales expected to fall by a mid-to-high single digit percentage rate as patent expiries continued to erode business. Earnings will decline “significantly more than revenue” this year as operating costs rise, the drug maker said yesterday. Fourth-quarter sales fell 16 per [...]
Nasdaq OMX’s earnings rise January 31, 2013 NASDAQ OMX Group yesterday reported a higher fourth-quarter profit as an increase in non-transaction-based revenues outweighed an industry-wide drop in trading volumes. Net income attributable to the transatlantic exchange operator totalled $85m (£51m), or 50 cents a share, up from $82m, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier.
Price rises help Diageo offset European woes January 31, 2013 DRINKS giant Diageo reported a rise in sales in the second half of the year, driven by price rises and growth in the US of premium brands like Ketel One vodka and Bulleit Bourbon. The maker of Baileys and Guinness beer saw global sales grow five per cent to £6.04bn in the six months to [...]
Big four tax bosses defend their firms during grilling from MPs January 31, 2013 TAX heads at the big four accountancy firms clashed with MPs yesterday over their role in helping large companies to reduce their tax bills. Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, called for PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young to be banned from doing work for the government in light of the loopholes [...]
US sues to block $20bn AB Inbev takeover of Mexico’s Modelo January 31, 2013 THE US government yesterday filed a lawsuit in a bid to stop Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) from buying the half of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo that it does not already own, saying the $20.1bn deal could mean higher US beer prices. AB InBev said it will fight back in federal court, calling the Justice Department’s [...]
New TV services lift Sky’s profits as rivals circle January 31, 2013 AN IMPRESSIVE showing from BSkyB’s new on-demand internet streaming service, Now TV, helped it to a 10 per cent rise in profits, the broadcaster said yesterday. Sky said that half of the 50,000 new TV customers it signed up during the last six months of 2012 were for Now TV, which charges customers £15 a [...]
