Labour promises to force down the cost of gas and electricity October 23, 2012 THE LABOUR party will today publish its new energy market policy, which promises to force energy companies to pass on price cuts when wholesale costs fall. The opposition party says it will abolish Ofgem, the existing regulator, and create a new watchdog that will take a more active role in forcing down consumer prices for [...]
Costa energises first-half profit for Whitbread October 23, 2012 WHITBREAD yesterday warned that growth in the second half of the year would be more subdued after the Olympics and a wet summer helped drive up first-half profits by 11 per cent. The owner of Premier Inn and the Costa coffee chain said a strong performance across both brands had helped push revenues up by [...]
Were Whitbread’s results in line with expectations ? October 23, 2012 SHERIDAN ADMANS | SHARE CENTRE Investors moved in [yesterday] to take profits as Whitbread delivered double digit growth…Despite being on target to meet its growth plan and the attractiveness of its business model, we continue to recommend “hold” in these challenging times as we believe the potential is reflected in the price. WYN ELLIS | [...]
Premier Foods sees sales rise after shake-up October 23, 2012 PREMIER Foods, Britain’s biggest food producer and the owner of brands such as Hovis bread and Mr Kipling cakes, yesterday posted rising quarterly sales and said its restructuring programme was on track to help it meet its full-year expectations. The group, which has been selling non-core businesses to bring down £1.3bn of debt built up [...]
Nokia seeks €750m from bond issue to fund turnaround plans October 23, 2012 FINNISH mobile phone manufacturer Nokia yesterday said it would issue €750m (£609m) of convertible bonds, with the proceeds used to fund an ambitious turnaround plan. Nokia’s cash reserves have tumbled this year as the company – which was once the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer – continues to struggle in the face of tough competition from [...]
Advisers Nokia’s bond issue October 23, 2012 YACINE AMOR BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH YACINE Amor led the team on Nokia’s bond issue at Bank of America Merill Lynch (BofAML), guiding Europe’s second largest convertible bond deal of this year. Amor has 14 years of investment banking experience and is currently head of equity-linked origination for the EMEA region. Prior to joining BofAML [...]
Record demand for smartphone chips lifts ARM October 23, 2012 ROCKETING interest in Apple products meant sales at chip designer ARM Holdings have increased by a fifth over the last year, sending shares in the Cambridge-based firm up more than 10 per cent yesterday. The company beat market expectations to see revenue hit £145m in the third quarter of the year, up from £120m in [...]
Mo and Usain help Virgin Media draw in record new customers October 23, 2012 A HIGH-PROFILE advertising campaign by Olympic champions Mo Farah and Usain Bolt helped pay-TV group Virgin Media to sign up a record number of net new cable customers in its third quarter and boost its profitability. Virgin, which provides pay-TV, broadband and telephony, said yesterday it had added 39,500 customers in the three months to [...]
CSR to return Samsung cash to investors October 23, 2012 SHAREHOLDERS in British chipmaker CSR will get a special payout before the end of the year after the completion of the sale of its handset technology to South Korean electronics leader Samsung. Details of the $285m (£178.5m) tender offer to shareholders will be announced during the fourth quarter, the company said yesterday. The group booked [...]
Magners maker goes stateside as rain waters down UK sales October 23, 2012 IRISH cider maker C&C said yesterday it would buy US firm Vermont Hard Cider for $305m (£191m) as part of a bid to tap into a fast-growing market and offset weakness in its core UK business, where sales of its flagship Magners brand slumped during a wet summer. Sales of Magners in the US leapt [...]
