Emerging markets success offsets Heineken’s European struggles October 24, 2012 HEINEKEN, the world’s third-largest brewer, reported stronger than expected third-quarter group revenue yesterday, boosted by US and emerging market strength and price hikes, but investors focused on weakness in Europe. Europe’s largest brewer, whose Heineken brand is the continent’s number-one selling beer, said the main causes were a double-digit percentage decline in Portugal, which entered [...]
Restructuring costs hammer Puma‘s results October 24, 2012 PUMA yesterday posted an 85 per cent plunge in third quarter profits to €12.2m (£9.9m), hit by weak European markets, slowing growth in Asia, and the cost of a revamp aimed at boosting future profits. Sales rose six per cent, missing forecasts.
Nintendo trims profit forecast October 24, 2012 NINTENDO trimmed its annual profit outlook by almost 50 per cent yesterday as a strong yen and diminished console sales weighed on earnings while it readies the launch of the successor to the hit Wii console, which it hopes will reboot earnings growth. Its operating loss for the three months to October edged down to [...]
Smartphone sales boost LG October 24, 2012 LG shipped a record number of smartphones in the third quarter, fuelling confidence it may have a future in the lucrative market as its peers are fading fast. The South Korean firm and rivals such as Nokia and HTC have struggled with losses or razor-thin profits in recent years as consumers have swarmed to the [...]
Punch Taverns warns that it is in talks for debt restructuring October 24, 2012 TROUBLED pub chain Punch Taverns yesterday warned that it would have to restructure its massive debt as the company said sales at its 3,000 pubs had declined by six per cent in the last year. Although Punch Taverns remains profitable, it is saddled with £2.4bn of debt, and has seen pre-tax profit decline to £64m [...]
What did you make of punch taverns’ performance? October 24, 2012 SIMON FRENCH | PANMURE GORDON With Ebitda below our expectations and debt higher than we forecast, our confidence in a positive outcome for shareholders continues to diminish. As such we reduce our target price to 7p, reflecting the group’s balance sheet value of its investment in Matthew Clark of £44.5m. Hold. JAMES MARTIN | BARCLAYS [...]
Penmanship a coveted skill at one law firm October 24, 2012 SILVERMAN Sherliker founding partner Chris Sherliker is one of the most followed legal eagles on Twitter, clocking up an impressive 16,048 followers on his Twitter page and even managing to knock out the odd smiley face in a recent tweet that The Capitalist spotted. So one would think that Sherliker would be keen to pioneer [...]
Stock Exchange exec: Finance and football don’t always mix October 24, 2012 AS a follower of Preston North End since childhood, Alastair Walmsley, the London Stock Exchange’s newish head of primary markets, could be forgiven for not being too displeased that Manchester United chose the New York Stock Exchange rather than his employer’s very own stock market on which to float its shares. In his LSE role [...]
Rathbone fund inflows slow as assets increase October 24, 2012 RATHBONE Brothers, the wealth management house, yesterday reported a 9.5 per cent increase in assets under management despite a slowdown in money being allocated to it by customers. The Curzon Street-based firm, which traces its roots back more than 270 years, increased its asset base to £17.4bn but saw slower inflows in both its investment [...]
Supreme Court ruling on equal pay paves way for more claims October 24, 2012 A LANDMARK legal ruling on equal pay claims handed down by the Supreme Court yesterday could open the door for female workers in the City to make compensation claims against former employers. The Court, the most senior in the land, yesterday ruled scores of women previously employed by Birmingham City Council could seek compensation through [...]
