Beans means trouble in HP Foods sale October 27, 2005 Fears that the price of traditional British foods including baked beans, tomato ketchup and HP Sauce could rise has forced the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to refer the sale of HP Foods to the Competition Commission. Director of competition enforcement at the OFT Vincent Smith said the sale of the Danone-owned sauce business to [...]
Inamoto puts Brom through October 26, 2005 Former Fulham midfielder Junichi Inamoto scored the extra-time winner for West Brom after the home side had twice recovered from a goal down in an enthralling Carling Cup tie at Craven Cottage. Rob Earnshaw opened the scoring for the visitors after just three minutes. His goal, having capitalized on a mistake from the Fulham defence, [...]
Giant laid to its rest October 26, 2005 With the rump of Marconi set to be rebranded as telent, Laurie Laird looks at what the future might hold in store for a once-great telecoms company brought to its knees in recent years From the mighty GEC, to Marconi, to Ericsson, to telent. It’s an ignominious end for a once-glorious company. After months of [...]
Gold rush leads to safe haven buying October 26, 2005 Often clients say that they are staying out of the market and waiting for the right moment to get in. Usually, this is precisely the right time to trade and diversify into other products. Just look at the currencies and the commodities, markets that would not usually attract your average financial spread trader, but they [...]
Wyevale calls end to takeover talks October 26, 2005 Takeover talks at Wyevale collapsed yesterday after private equity firm Cinven said it would not bid 580p per share for the garden centre retailer. Cinven had the backing of Wyevale’s largest shareholder Laxey for a bid, provided it met a price of 580p price and tabled an offer by 2 December. An offer at the [...]
Westbury hit by slump in house sector October 26, 2005 Housebuilder Westbury reported a slump in first-half profits yesterday amid tough times for the British housing sector. It revealed that pre-tax profits for the half year to 31 August fell by 26 per cent to £45.4m on falling sales. It sold £415m of homes compared to £427 last year. Chairman Geoffrey Maddrell, said: “The market [...]
Southern in £2.5m probe October 26, 2005 Soutern Water may have to pay up to £2.5m in compensation to customers after irregularities were discovered in its queries and complaints procedures. In an unprecedented move the company, which supplies water and sewerage services to 2.3m homes and businesses, has informed industry regulator Ofwat that it may have misled the watchdog over the level [...]
Rentokil to relocate October 26, 2005 Rentokil Initial is abandoning its rural lair for central London, a habitat thought to be more suited to the royal ratcatcher. Fresh from its tussle for control with celebrity businessman Sir Gerry Robinson, the world’s largest pest-controller is to relocate from rural Surrey to new offices in Belgrave House, next to Victoria railway station. Rentokil [...]
P&O growth slows October 26, 2005 P&O trimmed profits expectations from its ports business yesterday, blaming a slowdown in consumer spending. The group said it was seeing slower volume growth of its container business across British terminals as it cut £3-£4m off its August guidance of full year pre-tax profits of £177m. Shares closed down 3.4 per cent at 302.5p. P&O, [...]
Bank warns of hard times October 26, 2005 Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned that the British economy is about to embark on a bumpy ride over the coming years after the stability enjoyed in recent times. At a hearing in front of a House of Lords parliamentary committee, King said people should not expect the Bank to “fine tune the [...]
