CWW points to poor results to back Voda bid May 21, 2012 BRITISH telecoms firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide said yesterday a drop in earnings and no prospect of a quick upturn showed it was right to back a £1bn takeover by Vodafone despite the reluctance of its largest shareholder. The troubled corporate telecoms service provider reported core earnings fell 14 per cent to £378m in the [...]
British Land’s asset value up as retail drags May 21, 2012 BRITISH LAND said yesterday there was little rise in its net asset value in the fourth quarter of the year after weak consumer sentiment caused the value of its retail portfolio to drop. The UK’s second largest property company posted a net asset value of 595p, up from 593p in the three months to 31 [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | HOW IS BRITISH LAND PLACED FOR GROWTH COMPARED TO RIVALS? May 21, 2012 ALISON WATSON LIBERUM CAPITAL A solid set of results. The NAV of 595p was broadly in line with our 592p forecast. The underlying portfolio grew 2.6 per cent (Land Secs two per cent) with a slowdown in growth in the second half. The key driver was the achievement of a number of important milestones in [...]
Waterstones to stack Kindles on its shelves May 21, 2012 WATERSTONES yesterday unveiled a partnership with Amazon that will see the iconic British bookshop sell the Kindle e-reader and e-books. The high street retailer, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year, said the deal is part of its major refurbishment programme, which will see its stores decked out with new coffee shops, free wifi access and [...]
Publishers need to learn lessons of the record industry May 21, 2012 IN my less cynical moments I feel sorry for the record labels. While I think they are almost entirely to blame for destroying huge swathes of their own industry, they did so unwittingly. Their abject failure to respond to the digital music revolution that occurred in the early part of this century means the recorded [...]
US trial of ex-Goldman board member begins May 21, 2012 A FORMER Goldman Sachs Group board member “threw away his duties” in divulging secrets about the investment bank to now-imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, a US prosecutor said at the start of a major insider-trading trial yesterday. Rajat Gupta, once a boldface name in business and charity circles, is the most prominent corporate executive [...]
Campbell keeps targets May 21, 2012 Campbell Soup disappointed investors by leaving its full-year profit forecast unchanged despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday, as it continues trying to turn around its North American soup business. Campbell, whose shares were down two per cent, said it was on track with a plan this year to spend $100m on new advertising, new products, [...]
City backs Man’s £50m multi-manager vision May 21, 2012 SHARES in struggling hedge fund manager Man Group leapt 4.6 per cent yesterday on hopes its acquisition of FRM could lead to a dividend boost. The stock, which has halved since early March, closed up at 78.8p as analysts backed a low-risk deal for the global hedge fund research and investment firm with $8bn under [...]
HMV mulls potential break-up of its live entertainment arm May 21, 2012 MUSIC chain HMV is said to be considering a break up of its live entertainment business as it struggles to drum up interest from bidders for its festivals arm. Earlier this year, HMV hired bankers at Citigroup to find a buyer for its profitable HMV Live division, which runs 13 music venues and stages five [...]
HSBC seals the deal to sell 195 US branches May 21, 2012 HSBC has completed its sale of 195 branches in upstate New York to First Niagara Bank in a deal first announced in July last year. The move, which bagged the banking group $900m (£570m), is the latest completion in a string of transactions aiming to rid the bank of retail operations it sees as “subscale”. HSBC [...]
