Debt firm rakes in fees November 2, 2005 Britain’s largest provider of personal debt advice, Debt Free Direct (DFD) has seen its fees top £1m a month for the first time, due to the growing number of people veering towards bankruptcy. The number of people turning to the Lancashire-based company for help in setting up Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) has risen to 266 [...]
US spending aids Pearson November 2, 2005 Pearson, the publishing group, enjoyed a strong third quarter as the American government ploughed funds into education. The group that publishes the Financial Times posted a 20 per cent increase in operating profit as sales moved ahead 10 per cent in the nine months to 30 September. Its key education division posted a 13 per [...]
Tom Hunter in court November 2, 2005 Newly-knighted Scottish venture capitalist Tom Hunter will be accused of acting in bad faith in the High Court this morning by his former partners in the Gadget Shop, highly-successful UBS trader John Woods and Freeserve founder Peter Wilkinson. Hunter and his sidekick Chris Gorman could end up paying out as much as £150m in damages [...]
Sales slide at Matalan November 2, 2005 Value retailer Matalan yesterday insisted that it was holding market share despite reporting deteriorating trading conditions. Group like-for-like sales tumbled 10.6 per cent in the nine weeks to 29 October. The retailer said clothing like-for-like sales were down 7.6 per cent implying homewares sales had fallen by as much as 20 per cent. Chief executive [...]
LSE bidders given the green light November 2, 2005 The Competition Commission cleared the way for European bourse operators Euronext and Deutsche Börse to launch independent bids for the London Stock Exchange yesterday. After a seven-month inquiry, the Commission said both Germany’s Deutsche Börse and Paris-listed Euronext could bid, but only if they complied with strict conditions. Those conditions relate to the watering down [...]
BAA jobs to go despite profit rise November 2, 2005 Airports operator BAA said it will axe 700 jobs, almost 6 per cent of its workforce, despite posting a 5 per cent increase in half-year pre-tax profits. The business, which operates seven of Britain’s airports, posted pre-tax profit up 5.2 per cent to £366m, on sharply increased sales, up 6.4 per cent, of £1.2bn. It [...]
Imperial smokes out a strong profit November 2, 2005 Imperial Tobacco posted an 11 per cent rise in pre-tax profit yesterday on the back of strong sales in its core British and German markets. The Bristol-based company, whose brands include Lambert & Butler and Richmond cigarettes, saw profits come in at the top end of analyst expectations at £1.1bn. Sales increased 4 per cent [...]
Co-op will vote against BSkyB at AGM November 2, 2005 Pay TV broadcaster BSkyB suffered a fresh blow to its share buyback plans after shareholder Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) announced it would vote against the proposal at what is expected to be a stormy AGM this Friday. The insurer, which joins a growing list of institutional investors who have threatened to scupper the plan, said [...]
Hopes for rate cut dashed as house prices begin recovery November 2, 2005 The odds on the Bank of England cutting interest rates for the second time in four months lengthened yesterday after the release of a raft of better than expected economic data. The latest snapshot of the housing market by leading lender Nationwide showed prices jumped 1.3 per cent, the fastest rate in 15 months, bringing [...]
Finding your way through the TV maze November 2, 2005 Satellite, cable, Freeview, PVR, broadband, video-on-demand and telly-down-the-phone. Confusing, isn’t it? The power of the television remote control has never been so great. With more than 350 television channels from which to choose, as well as interactive extras like digital videoing and television libraries, the couch potato trigger finger has never had it so good. [...]
