Bad first half at Gem Diamonds August 21, 2012 Gem Diamonds’ first-half profit has more than halved, it said yesterday, hurt by a rise in costs and lower prices for the precious stone during the period. Profit before tax was $36.3m (£23m), down from $79m a year earlier. Revenue fell nine per cent to $180.2m. Cost of sales rose about 28 per cent to [...]
Severfield drops on merger plans August 21, 2012 Shares in steel firm steel firm Severfield-Rowen fell yesterday after it announced plans to merge three of its UK businesses, and said underlying profit for the first half of the year was down 42 per cent. Profit before tax for the period was £1.5m, compared with £3.4m the year before.
Lindt hit by Eurozone woes August 21, 2012 Lindt & Spruengli’s said yesterday it expects consumers to become even more cautious as the Eurozone crisis drags on as it reported a first-half net profit that fell short of expectations. The confectioner, famous for its gold foil-wrapped rabbits, saw net profit rise 14 per cent to SFr36.6m (£23.8m).
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 21, 2012 Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors David Lyscom has been appointed policy director of the professional membership body. He is a former UK ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and was also previously UK ambassador to Slovakia and the International Energy Agency (IEA). He will report to Dr Ian Peters, the institute’s [...]
BEST of the BROKERS August 21, 2012 AFRICAN BARRICK Canaccord Genuity has cut its target for African Barrick Gold, Tanzania’s largest gold miner, from 440p to 380p and maintained its “hold” rating. In mid-July the shares were trading at just 320p but takeover speculation has pushed up the price. MECOM Peel Hunt has upgraded publishing giant Mecom to “buy” with a target [...]
Eurozone chatter helps lift the FTSE 100 in very light volumes August 21, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index advanced yesterday in light trade, led up by miners and banking stocks, as investors speculated as to how Eurozone policy makers would tackle the region’s debt crisis. The FTSE 100 ended up 33.15 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,857.52, having shed 0.5 per cent on Monday, in volume at around [...]
S&P 500 index hits a four year intraday high August 21, 2012 US stocks fell yesterday after the S&P 500 hit its highest level in four years as the benchmark index faced technical resistance and traders cashed in recent gains. The S&P 500 index hit 1,426.68, its highest intraday rise since May 2008. Volume has been light, as expected in August, and only three of the past [...]
Forget Nadir – the SFO does not have the resources to fight fraud August 21, 2012 ALTHOUGH the jury is still out on nine of the charges in the Asil Nadir case, the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) successful conviction of Nadir on three charges is a nice win following a two-decade long pursuit of the tycoon. Sadly, this success is not indicative of the SFO’s recent experience. The Nadir case needs [...]
How to unpick the apparent paradox of falling GDP and rising employment August 21, 2012 THE City always eagerly awaits the latest GDP estimates. These figures dominate the media headlines and huge significance is attached to trivial differences between market expectations and the announced figure, and to subsequent revisions to the data. But GDP is not something that can be put in a set of scales and measured accurately. The [...]
Olympian defends football stars – at least off the pitch August 21, 2012 FOLLOWING the recent success of Team GB at the London Olympics, many people are inevitably comparing footballers with athletes. As such, many expect fans and athletes of other sports to dislike footballers. But this comparison isn’t entirely fair. The combination of enormous wages, lavish lifestyles and bad headlines has made footballers fair game for relentless [...]
