Ted Baker boosted by overseas expansion October 4, 2012 TED BAKER posted a 15 per cent rise in first-half revenue yesterday, helped by strong sales in the US as it seeks to grow out of a sluggish European market. Retailers have come under pressure in the face of squeezed consumer spending, muted wages growth and government austerity. But Ted Baker has notched up solid [...]
Pre-pack for United Carpets October 4, 2012 UNITED Carpets yesterday became the latest company to fall victim to tough high street conditions, after it collapsed into administration and warned of store closures where rent reductions could not be agreed. Administrator Begbies Traynor yesterday sold the flooring and beds firm and its 72 stores, through a pre-pack administration to a wholly owned subsidiary [...]
Do Halfords results spell an ongoing improving trend? October 4, 2012 SANJAY VIDYARTHI | ESPIRITO SANTO Halfords has delivered a very strong second quarter sales performance and what is particularly encouraging is that we don’t see this as just a one-off Olympics related boost to bike sales. Other categories, including the important, high margin car maintenance category have also performed better than expected. BETHANY HOCKING | [...]
Debenhams hires Google exec to its board October 4, 2012 DEBENHAMS yesterday revealed it has appointed Google’s director of retail Peter Fitzgerald as a non-executive director to help grow the department store group’s online business. Fitzgerald, 42, joined Google in 2007 after working at Amazon for eight years.
AAR eyes entire TNK-BP stake as talks persist October 4, 2012 GERMAN Khan, director of Russian oil company TNK-BP, said yesterday that his consortium AAR will make a “competitive” offer for BP’s 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP. Khan said AAR, which already owns 50 per cent of TNK-BP, has been organising funding for the sale of the stake. It will make an offer by 17 [...]
Gulf Keystone secures £170m funding for Iraq oil exploration October 4, 2012 LONDON-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum is to raise $275m (£170.5m) worth of funding through convertible bonds to expand its operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The bonds, which mature in 2017, will pay 6.25 per cent a year, and the proceeds will primarily be used to fund the development of the oil and gas exploration [...]
Carillion warns on revenue October 4, 2012 Construction firm Carillion warned yesterday that full-year revenue will be lower for this year than for 2011. In its interim management statement, Carillion said a restructuring of its UK construction activities in a shrinking UK market would hold back profits. The West Midlands-based group said it expects to deliver higher operating profit and operating margin [...]
Victrex continues sales growth October 4, 2012 Thermoplastic polymer manufacturer Victrex said yesterday that second-half volumes were seven per cent ahead on the same period last year at 1,527 tonnes, due to a strong pipeline of business in its polymer solutions business. Full-year volumes increased to a record 2,904 tonnes. Victrex said it had started construction of a £90m peek plant in [...]
Johnson Matthey boosts board October 4, 2012 Johnson Matthey has appointed Colin Matthews as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Matthews has been chief executive of BAA since 2008, and was previously group chief executive for Severn Trent. He has also worked for British Airways, Lattice Group and Hays Group. Johnson Matthey chairman Tim Stevenson said that Matthews had a “wealth of [...]
Leaky roofs and rats – welcome to the City slums October 4, 2012 THE Capitalist would like to thank all those who named and shamed in response to yesterday’s request for contenders in City A.M.’s search for the City Slum of the year. It seems there are rats up drainpipes all over the Square Mile, not to mention leaking roofs. One company complained of a mysterious leak at [...]
