Spirit Pubs to be lifted with Games effect less than feared October 14, 2012 THE PUB sector is set to receive some rare good news after a disappointing summer when Spirit Pub Company announces preliminary annual results tomorrow. Analysts expect Spirit – which runs around 800 pubs – to report a four per cent rise in sales to around £761m. Spirit’s performance will be a welcome sign of resilience [...]
Vivendi unit in talks with cable firm Numericable over tie-up October 14, 2012 FRENCH mobile phone operator SFR, a unit of Vivendi, is in talks with unlisted cable company Numericable over a possible tie-up, the country’s daily Le Figaro reported over the weekend. Le Figaro did not cite its sources but said in an online report that the two companies had been in “very serious” discussions for around [...]
Adele smash hit leads XL to surge in profits October 14, 2012 BRITISH superstar Adele helped lead her record label, XL Recordings, to an “exceptional” year in 2011, helping boost its turnover from £21.4m to £111.7m. The surge in revenues for 2011 helped lift pre tax profits from £4.1m in 2010 to £41.7m. The firm said the success of Adele’s album, 21, would not be repeated in [...]
O2 says outage persists but will not compensate October 14, 2012 O2 FACED further embarrassment over the weekend as users continued to suffer network problems despite the company claiming it had fixed the problems on Friday. The mobile operator said last night that despite efforts to return service to customers before Saturday, many people were still having problems connecting to the network. The company, owned by [...]
Pressure on Murdoch mounts ahead of News Corp meeting October 14, 2012 RUPERT Murdoch is facing increasing pressure to split his role as chief executive and chairman of News Corp ahead of the media giant’s annual meeting tomorrow, with several investors set to vote for Murdoch to step down from one or both roles. Shareholder advisory body Pirc joined calls for a division of powers at News [...]
Concordia ship captain to face Italian hearing October 14, 2012 THE captain of the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship will attend pre-trial hearings this week where experts will present analysis of the events that led to the vessel hitting a rock off the Italian coast in January, killing 30 people. The luxury cruise liner has been sitting half-submerged on the sea floor near the Tuscan [...]
US and French bodies set to charge Google October 14, 2012 GOOGLE is facing new probes from prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic, with US and French officials set to add to an EU investigation into the web giant. The French information commissioner’s office, CNIL, is this week set to reveal the outcome of a months-long probe into Google over its use of personal data [...]
Retailers and card companies gear up for new clash on fees October 14, 2012 VISA, Mastercard and a group of retailers plan to ask a judge this week to approve a landmark settlement of a lawsuit over credit card fees, setting the stage for a battle with Wal-Mart and hundreds of other merchants who say it is a bad deal. Announced in July, the $7.2bn (£4.5bn) settlement is intended [...]
Goldman to swing to profit October 14, 2012 US BANKS are expected to report strong revenue figures this week, in part thanks to the boost to the mortgage market from the Federal Reserve’s latest round of money printing. Goldman Sachs will report its third quarter results tomorrow, and is expected to turn 2011’s third quarter loss of $393m (£245m) into a solid profit [...]
M&A stifled by the failure of firms to plan beyond deals October 14, 2012 COMPANIES undergoing mergers & acquisitions are jeopardising their growth prospects by giving “little or no focus” to the nuts and bolts of post-merger life, according to a new study by Eversheds published today. Almost half (43 per cent) of companies questioned by the international law firm blamed the failure to address “post deal integration” when [...]
