Customers turn to Provident Financial in credit squeeze October 19, 2012 Lender Provident Financial this morning reported a 26.6 per cent jump in customers in the non-standard credit card market. The FTSE 250 lender said customer numbers in the Vanquis Bank division, which provides credit to borrowers shunned by high-street banks, had reached 834,000 at the end of September, as the economy heaped pressure on the [...]
Bunzl mulls more acquisitions as revenue rises October 19, 2012 Outsourcing firm Bunzl today posted a five per cent increase in group revenue for its third quarter, as it eyed more acquisitions. In the year to date, group revenue increased by six per cent. In an interim management statement, the FTSE 100 firm credited underlying revenue growth in North America, Continental Europe, the UK and [...]
FTSE 100 weighed down by Aggreko October 19, 2012 The leading share index slipped on Friday, weighed down by banks and miners. Power supplier Aggreko fell back 7.38 per cent as it said this morning its full-year profits would be hit by unfavourable exchange rates and higher bad debt provision. Housebuilder Redrow fell 7.14 per cent as its founder Steve Morgan dropped its bid [...]
Aggreko hit by forex and bad debt provisions October 19, 2012 Temporary power supplier Aggreko this morning warned that its full-year profit would be hit by unfavourable exchange rates and increased bad debt provisions. The FTSE 100 firm said it would impact profit by about 2.5 per cent. Aggreko, which provides power generators and temperature control equipment, posted a revenue jump of 22 per cent from [...]
Ofgem sets out proposals to shake up energy market October 19, 2012 Ofgem this morning unveiled plans to force energy suppliers to tell customers about the cheapest tariff they have on offer. The energy regulator put forward proposals for a package of more transparent measures to improve the competition in the household energy market. The proposals want suppliers to provide vulnerable customers and those who haven’t switched [...]
William Hill reports rising profits October 19, 2012 Bookmaker William Hill this morning posted group operating profit up 26 per cent over the three months to September, helped by good sporting results. Year on year, profit was 17 per cent up. The online business grew strongly over the quarter, with online revenue up by 18 per cent over the period, and 26 per [...]
Misselling set to cost banks £12bn October 18, 2012 BARCLAYS put aside another £700m yesterday to deal with soaring payment protection insurance (PPI) misselling claims, as analysts warned that other banks would also have to increase their provisions. Analysts expect the four biggest banks to have set aside an additional £2.2bn over the last quarter to cover PPI misselling, taking the total for the [...]
Google halts trades as its profits drop October 18, 2012 GOOGLE suspended trading last night after its disappointing results were accidentally released before they were due. Wall Street was shocked when the company’s third-quarter earnings were released by RR Donnelley, the company that publishes Google’s results, at around 6pm GMT – more than two hours earlier than scheduled. Google said it had suspended shares while [...]
MPs say watchdog should have prevented RBS bailout October 18, 2012 POLITICIANS have slammed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for doing nothing during RBS’s disastrous takeover of ABN Amro, and are calling for tougher rules to prevent similar failures. The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) said in a report today that the FSA “should and could have intervened” to block the 2007 deal that led to RBS [...]
Google’s awful day reminds us it is becoming less special October 18, 2012 YESTERDAY was a terrible day for Google, a firm used to success. Its slump in profits came as a shock to the markets. It shouldn’t have: the company is merely becoming more normal, especially following its decision to overpay for Motorola, and normal firms don’t do as well as revolutionary, super-smart start-ups. As proof of [...]
