Rugby Estates sees stability October 28, 2009 Property group Rugby Estates yesterday reported signs of the market stabilising after narrowing its first-half losses to £0.116m, compared to a loss of £4.41m the year before. The group reported a small rise in profit from net sales to £1,085m for the six months to July. Chairman David Tye said there were now signs of [...]
City Moves for 29 October 2009 | Who’s switching jobs October 28, 2009 Financial Services Skills CouncilThe FSSC has appointed Legal & General’s Adrian Clark and Santander’s Bernadette Brown, pictured, to its board of directors. Clark is L&G’s chief operating officer for protection throughout the UK as well as director of its Cardiff site. Brown is a human resources business partner for Santander’s UK businesses, based in the [...]
ArcelorMittal in a sombre mood as it returns to profit October 28, 2009 ARCELORMITTAL, the world’s largest steelmaker, dampened recovery expectations yesterday with a muted forecast for the final three months of 2009 after a return to profit in the third quarter. The firm, which produces three times more steel than nearest rival Nippon and holds nearly eight per cent of the global market, said it expected its [...]
CHEERS FOR HEINEKEN October 28, 2009 BREWING giant Heineken yesterday raised its 2009 profit forecasts after an extensive cost-cutting programme off-set a decline in beer volumes. The group posted third quarter sales of €4.07bn (£3.65bn), after reporting a six per cent decline in beer volumes. Heineken chose to cut-costs, rather than drop the prices of its premium beers.
CITsecures $4.5bn from its creditors and rebuffs Icahn October 28, 2009 STRUGGLING commercial lender CIT Group yesterday obtained $4.5bn (£2.7bn) of additional financing from its creditors, just as it seeks to complete a debt exchange. The new financing, which adds to a $3bn loan arranged in July, is being provided by a group of lenders including some of CIT’s bondholders. CIT said it made the new [...]
Joblessness takes its toll on BAT sales October 28, 2009 BRITISHAmerican Tobacco, the cigarette giant behind the Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands, yesterday revealed that its sales volumes had dropped for the first time in two years, hit by downturns in key territories. BAT said volumes had fallen in Japan, Russia, Brazil, Italy and South Africa, taking volumes overall for the group down three per [...]
Sky rivals call on Ofcom to speed up its probe into the pay-TV market October 28, 2009 Broadcasters have urged Ofcom to speed up its review of the pay-TV industry, calling on it to implement rules to force Sky to wholesale premium sports and movies content to rivals at fixed prices. The watchdog yesterday published submissions to its third consultation on the pay-TV review, which showed that Sky’s rivals are becoming increasingly [...]
WHAT’S THE OUTLOOK FOR BG GROUP AFTER THESE RESULTS? October 28, 2009 RONNIE CHOPRA FALCON SECURITIES “All the large integrated oil companies are struggling with production growth, and new discoveries are struggling to replace the existing assets. BG has a first-class portfolio of assets across the globe which would make an attractive fit for a predator. BG has outstanding growth prospects.” HENK POTTS BARCLAYS WEALTH “Despite the [...]
BG looks to a bright future despite losses October 28, 2009 BG GROUP, the oil and gas major, said yesterday that profits had tumbled on the back of an energy price slump, but maintained the outlook for the immediate future was bright. Profits at the group, which had pleased investors with a string of recent discoveries in Brazil, fell to £838m, including one-time items, for the [...]
Chips are down for Wolfson October 28, 2009 Wolfson Microelectronics swung to a $1.5m (£914,000) pre-tax loss in the third quarter, short of analysts’ expectations, and said trading remained challenging. The chipmaker, which was dropped by Apple from its latest iPhone, reported revenue of $35.4m and a pre-tax loss of $1.5m, compared with a profit of $8.3m a year ago. Analysts were expecting [...]
