Strong first half puts Interserve back on track for the full year August 15, 2012 SUPPORT services and construction group Interserve yesterday reported half-year profit of eight per cent driven by strong performance in its British support services business. Pre-tax profit for the firm, whose services range from cleaning Sainsbury’s supermarkets to building Jaguar a new site in Coventry, came in at £32.6m in the six months to 30 June, [...]
Balfour Beatty wary over UK as emerging markets drive revenue August 15, 2012 BALFOUR BEATTY, the UK’s largest construction company, yesterday said it could not foresee when there would be a pick-up in its home market where its own order book was down three per cent, outperforming a 10 per cent fall across the industry. It said its focus in recent months on winning contracts in industries such [...]
HMV changes its stock market listing to speed up sale of Live August 15, 2012 SHAREHOLDERS in HMV yesterday voted in favour of changing the struggling music entertainment chain’s stock market listing in a move that will help speed up the sale of its Live music arm. Some 99 per cent of investors approved the change in listing category from “premium” to “standard”, at an extraordinary general meeting held yesterday. [...]
Gold production helps 17pc rise in second-half earnings at Cluff August 15, 2012 CLUFF Gold yesterday reported a 17 per cent increase in earnings for the second half of the year, driven by increased production at its Kalsaka gold mine. The Aim-listed West African gold producer increased production by 21 per cent in the three months to 30 June, following positive updates at its other African sites. The [...]
CLS posts lift in net asset value August 15, 2012 CLS HOLDINGS set the example yesterday on how to profit from the secondary office market, after the property investment company posted strong half-year figures. The family-run firm said net asset value jumped 5.6 per cent to 1,038p a share in the first half of the year despite a fall in profit to £27.1m from £37.1m. [...]
Profit at Capital & Regional up August 15, 2012 CAPITAL & REGIONAL, the retail and leisure asset manager, yesterday posted a five per cent rise in recurring pre-tax profits to £9.2m in the first half of the year. But the property specialist suffered a 4.8 per cent drop in its net asset value, primarily due to a sharp devaluation of its German portfolio. Cap&Reg’s [...]
Glaxo sells Australian drug brands August 15, 2012 GlaxoSmithKline advanced its clear-out of non-core drugs yesterday with a deal to sell 25 older brands marketed in Australia to South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare for £172m. The old brands being bought by Aspen include herpes treatment Valtrex, epilepsy drug Lamictal and the antibiotic Amoxil. In total, the 25 products generated sales of around £83m pounds [...]
Carlsberg dampened by weather August 15, 2012 Carlsberg said a boost provided by sponsoring the Euro 2012 football tournament did not make up for unseasonably wet weather as the brewer reported a five per cent fall in sales in northern and western Europe. However, the firm’s pre-tax profit rose 47 per cent to 2.6bn Danish kroner (£273m) as it sold off breweries. [...]
H&M’s July sales defy gloom August 15, 2012 Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), the Swedish clothing giant, said sales grew for a third consecutive month in July. The upbeat results came despite gloom in its biggest market Germany, in a sign of robust demand for cheap fashion from cash-strapped shoppers. Sales at stores open a year or more rose two per cent in local [...]
US corporate results round-up August 15, 2012 Abercrombie hit by fall in profit but sales slowdown stabilizes TEEN clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch earned $15.5m, or 19 cents per share, in the second quarter ended 28 July, down from $32m, or 35 cents per share, a year ago. Overall sales rose four per cent to $951.4m. Sales at stores open a year [...]
