Chinese sales lift Renishaw October 18, 2012 British engineer Renishaw more than doubled its first quarter profit after strong demand in its core Chinese market. The group, which supplies products used in industries from manufacturing to dentistry, reported pre-tax profit of £28.3m for the three months to the end of September, up 108 per cent on the same period last year. UK [...]
No Games boost for Eurostar October 18, 2012 Eurostar said yesterday the Olympics had not given a boost to its traffic figures, as tourists took more trips during the Games but stayed away in July. Around 2.6m passengers travelled on the cross-Channel rail service in the quarter, flat on a year ago, while sales revenues fell five per cent to £188m due to [...]
Hochschild on track for full year October 18, 2012 South America-focused miner Hochschild yesterday said silver output for the third quarter came in at 5.1m ounces, as it reaffirmed its 2012 production guidance of 20m ounces of silver. The FTSE 250 miner reported strong brownfield exploration results over the quarter, at both new and existing sites, including the discovery of a new vein in [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 18, 2012 Barclays Mike Rigby has been appointed head of manufacturing, transport and logistics in Barclays’s corporate banking division. He joined the bank in 2008, and was previously corporate director in the manufacturing team. Rigby has also held roles at HSBC. Ernst & Young John Clarke has been appointed partner in the professional services firm’s operational transaction [...]
Best of the Brokers October 18, 2012 AVIVA Morgan Stanley rates the insurer “overweight” and cheers it as one of the key picks in the sector, but has moved its target price from 406p to 404p after fine-tuning earnings forecasts. XCHANGING Panmure Gordon has upgraded the IT and outsourcing firm from “sell” to “hold” and hiked its target from 75p to 115p, [...]
Positive Chinese data sees the FTSE grow to highest level since March October 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index rose to a seven-month closing high ysterday, bolstered by mining stocks on a reassuring economic outlook from top metals consumer China. Chinese economic growth slowed to 7.4 per cent year-on-year during the third quarter, as expected, but industrial output and retail sales data for September beat forecasts, paving the way for [...]
Weak Google earnings drag Wall St lower October 18, 2012 US stocks fell yesterday, with technology stocks hit hard after Google’s surprisingly weak earnings – released prematurely during the trading day – disappointed investors. Shares of Google lost 8 per cent – the stock’s worst day since 20 January – to close at $695 after the Internet giant’s third-quarter results showed earnings and revenue fell [...]
The reason Cameron is wrong in humiliating energy tariff debacle October 18, 2012 IT IS always disappointing for politicians when a confused announcement turns a popular idea into a communications disaster. George Osborne experienced that pain earlier this year when he announced a freeze in fuel duty and, thanks to the timing, the front pages the next days were about U-turns and not lower taxes. At Prime Minister’s [...]
You can’t always get what you want but the Rolling Stones defy the gloom October 18, 2012 DON’T paint Mick Jagger too black. The Rolling Stones have come in for criticism over high ticket prices for their fiftieth anniversary gigs at the O2, which go on sale this morning. But I have some sympathy for the devil. While the cost may have disappointed some of the veteran rock band’s passionate fans, it’s [...]
Black Monday and why confidence is the key to revival October 18, 2012 TODAY is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Black Monday, when stock markets around the world spectacularly crashed and the FTSE 100 plunged from over 2,300 to depths of near 1,500. Although 1987 is long ago, and we’ve reasonably moved on to consider more recent financial disasters, Britain’s return to confidence then holds lessons for politicians and [...]
