Thomas Cook appoints former Sara Lee executive as chairman September 21, 2011 A FORMER executive at the US consumer goods group Sara Lee Corporation has been confirmed as the next chairman of troubled travel group Thomas Cook. Belgian Frank Meysman, 59, will join the board on 1 October and takes over as chairman from Michael Beckett. He has worked for major companies including Procter & Gamble before [...]
RAB Capital bosses pledge $30m to fund September 21, 2011 THE co-founders of RAB Capital signalled the latest stage in the long restructuring of their flagship Special Situations fund by committing to invest $30m (£19.21m) of their own money in less than two weeks’ time. Executive director Philip Richards and executive chairman Michael Alen-Buckley (pictured) will put the money in on 3 October, RAB said [...]
JD Sports earnings up despite £700k hit from UK looters September 21, 2011 SPORTSWEAR retailer JD Sports Fashion, whose shops were widely targeted by looters during last month’s riots in several cities, yesterday posted a 21 per cent rise in first-half profit and said it was well positioned for future growth. The firm, which trades as JD Sports, Size, Bank, Scotts and Chausport, said stock totalling £700,000 was [...]
Asian hedge funds attract inflows of $500m in August to near 2007 peak September 21, 2011 ASIA-focused hedge funds attracted a net inflow of about $500m (£319.2m) in August, increasing their total inflows for 2011 to $7bn, as investors shrugged off volatile markets and raised bets on the region’s fast growth, new data shows. Flows this year have exceeded last year’s when these funds got net inflows of $4bn, data released [...]
JJB’s plan for top manager share bonuses gets green light September 21, 2011 JJB Sports shareholders yesterday voted in favour of a £73.4m share bonus scheme for top managers. The share incentive scheme is for four directors and a small group of senior managers and 94 per cent of shareholders voted in favour. Managers including chairman Mike McTighe and chief executive Keith Jones could end up with as [...]
INDITEX BOOSTED BY OVERSEAS GROWTH September 21, 2011 SALES in emerging markets helped Zara owner Inditex achieve a 14 per cent rise in profits in the first half. The Spanish owned company, which started selling all its brands online in Europe in the period, reported net profits of €717m (£626m).
M&C Saatchi profits surge by a quarter September 21, 2011 ADVERTISING icon M&C Saatchi yesterday hit a 17 month share price high after announcing a surge in first-half profits. The firm saw its pre-tax profit jump almost a quarter to hit £7.7m, with revenues rising 23 per cent to £71.9m. A strong performance in its core UK business, which accounts for 43 per cent of its [...]
News Corp share buyback hits $1bn in first month September 21, 2011 NEWS Corp bought back more than $1bn (£637m) of its shares in the last month as it seeks to improve relations with its shareholders. The transactions are part of a wider $5bn buyback scheme announced in the wake of News Corp’s failed bid for the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not own. Meanwhile, [...]
Facebook set to double revenue September 21, 2011 FACEBOOK’S full year revenues are set to double this year, reaching a staggering $4.3bn (£2.75bn), according to research by eMarketer. The firm, which last week decided to delay its long-mooted IPO until late 2012, will take the majority of its revenues – $3.8bn – from advertising, with more than half of this in the US. [...]
Play.com sold in £25m deal September 21, 2011 PLAY.COM has been bought by Japanese online retail giant Rakuten in a deal worth £25m plus debt. The acquisition of the music and film specialist is part of a an international push to compete with US giants Amazon and eBay. Play.com, based in Jersey, had a meteoric rise, taking advantage of European VAT rules to [...]
