Halfords’ first half profits pedal ahead November 19, 2009 BIKE and car parts retailer Halfords laid out ambitious expansion plans yesterday as it announced strong first half results that saw pre-tax profits surge 24 per cent to £60.9m. The company is planning to open 150 stores in central Europe following a successful trial with four outlets in the Czech Republic. It will also add [...]
YOUNG’S CHEERS CITY November 19, 2009 LONDON-focused pub group Young’s & Co yesterday reported a 3.7 per cent jump in its first-half pre-tax profits as drinkers flocked to its City outlets. The group, which has 221 pubs in the capital, said it made a pre-tax profit of £12.3m in the six months to 26 September, compared to £11.9m last year.
Smedvig’s investors cash in November 19, 2009 London-based private equity firm Smedvig Capital has announced the sale of Protego Real Estate Investors to US-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, delivering a return of over six times the original investment in just five years. Smedvig, which also has investments in Streetcar and Ocean Outdoor – which operates advertising sites and the IMAX Cinema and [...]
Cheap finance lifts National Grid November 19, 2009 Gas and electricity transmission network operator National Grid expects a strong year on the back of low financing costs but sees no recovery in demand to pre-crisis levels for several years. Steve Holliday, chief executive of Britain’s biggest utility, also said yesterday it would be looking at EDF’s UK electricity distribution assets, joining Scottish & [...]
Investors flock to students flats November 19, 2009 Britain’s biggest quoted student landlord Unite Group yesterday said institutional investors were making beelines for the student property sector, where rental growth is outstripping other real estate market segments. For the period between 1 July and 18 November, Unite reported like-for-like rental growth of 9.7 per cent for its purpose-built student accommodation units in the [...]
Dutch agree more funding for ABN Amro November 19, 2009 The Dutch government yesterday said it would have to inject another €3bn (£2.7bn) into nationalised bank ABN Amro, which will raise the national debt with no immediate return for the state. The finance ministry also said that a long-negotiated ABN asset sale to Deutsche Bank was worth €700m, but could collapse unless parliament approves it [...]
SABMiller sees profit fall on back of currency movements November 19, 2009 SABMILLER yesterday said unfavourable currency movements caused its pre-tax profits to slide to $1.5bn (£893m) for the six months to 30 September, down 26 per cent on the same period a year ago. The London-listed brewer of Miller Lite, Grolsch and Peroni Nastro Azzurro beers also reported a 21 per cent fall in revenue to [...]
CBI boss Richard Lambert can see early signs of economic recovery November 19, 2009 THE worst is over for the British economy. At least, that was the message from Richard Lambert, the Confederation of Business Industry’s (CBI) thoughtful director-general, when we meet. “We have finally hit the deck,” he tells me, leaning forward. “Things are a lot better now than in the first quarter of this year. Where we [...]
Cost cuts help Aegis through tough period November 19, 2009 FTSE 100 media agency Aegis said yesterday that cost cutting allowed it to maintain full-year guidance, but that revenues continued to fall in the first nine months. Aegis reported organic revenue down 10.8 per cent, with falls of 10.4 per cent at its Aegis Media marketing operations and 11.5 per cent at the market research [...]
Revenue declines ease for Centaur as ads return November 19, 2009 Business publisher Centaur Media said yesterday that its year-on-year revenue decline eased in the four months to 31 October, helped by improved advertising revenue. The company said revenue fell 28 per cent during the period, in line with its forecasts and representing a slower rate of decline than the 32 per cent drop seen in [...]
