Fifty Shades and Olympics harm Harry Potter printer Bloomsbury October 25, 2012 HARRY Potter publisher Bloomsbury has seen profits almost halve in the last six months as sales of its children’s and educational books have suffered. The firm also said sales of adult books had been lower than expected, due to the market being dominated by Fifty Shades Of Grey and the disruptive effect of the Olympics. [...]
Unilever sales beat forecasts October 25, 2012 UNILEVER’S quarterly sales growth beat forecasts as demand for cleaning and personal care products in China helped the consumer goods group outshine larger rival Nestle. The maker of Dove soap and Cif cleaners shrugged off the worries about slowing growth in China, reporting a growth of 5.9 per cent in the third quarter, ahead of [...]
Odey ups Man Group stake October 25, 2012 ODEY Asset Management yesterday sharply increased its stake in Man Group, taking a bold bet on a fightback by the struggling computer hedge fund firm. Odey, founded by veteran fund manager Crispin Odey and which is known for its lucrative bet in 2009 on a recovery in Barclays shares, has increased its stake in Man [...]
AstraZeneca in search for deals as revenue falls October 25, 2012 ANGLO-SWEDISH pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZ) will turn to new deals in an effort to stem the decline in its sales, new chief executive Pascal Soriot said yesterday. AZ reported a worse than expected 19 per cent tumble in revenue to $6.68bn (£41.4bn) in its third quarter as the company battles a dwindling pipeline of new [...]
Is there still hope for astrazeneca’s stock given these results? October 25, 2012 BRIAN WHITE | SHORE CAPITAL The results were behind our and consensus estimates at the top line but ahead of estimates at the core earnings per share line – although this was flattered by the previously announced OTC Nexium agreement with Pfizer. It’s hard not to see core EPS estimates trickling up, we are at [...]
Shire replaces CEO as profits miss forecasts October 25, 2012 PHARMACEUTICAL group Shire said yesterday its chief executive Angus Russell would be replaced by Flemming Ornskov, an executive from Bayer, to help steer the acquisitive company to continued growth. The change in management came after the firm missed expectations for the third quarter by reporting non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS (American Depositary Share) of $1.36, [...]
Murder most mysterious in the Guildhall’s library October 25, 2012 GUESTS at The Game quiz evening, held in aid of St John’s Ambulance, were happily wining and dining in the Guildhall’s Great Hall on Wednesday when their supper was disturbed by a mysterious murder in the library. Donning forensic suits, teams from firms including KPMG, Investec, Hogan Lovells and Ernst & Young boldly set out [...]
Pernod predicts slow Asian profit growth October 25, 2012 PERNOD Ricard yesterday predicted a slowdown in profit growth in the current year after slowing Asian demand for Martell cognac and Scotch whiskies dragged quarterly sales below forecasts. The world’s second-biggest spirits group behind Diageo predicted a rise in underlying profit from recurring operations of close to six per cent in the year to 30 [...]
Bwin shares rise on Zynga casino deal October 25, 2012 ONLINE gambling company Bwin was boosted yesterday when it announced a tie-up with US Facebook game developer Zynga that will see Bwin’s technology used in a range of poker and casino games. The Zynga deal moved Bwin shares up 6.7 per cent yesterday. Zynga announced it was moving into lucrative casino games on Wednesday night, [...]
Stobart confident after tough first half October 25, 2012 HAULIER Stobart said yesterday it plans to push further into the air and biomass sectors after the group relied on tight cost management to offset the pressure being placed on its core transport business by nervous retailers. The company, whose Eddie Stobart trucks deliver goods to retailers like Tesco, on Thursday reported underlying pretax profit [...]
