BMW drives back into profit after global downturn May 5, 2010 BMW, Germany’s luxury carmaker, has returned to profit compared with a year earlier and says sales in the coming year will be healthy. The group reported a net profit of €324m (£277m) for the first three months of the year, against a loss of €152m a year ago. Sales came in at €12.4bn, up eight [...]
IS JD WETHERSPOON LOSING MOMENTUM? May 5, 2010 SIMON FRENCH | PANMURE GORDON “We believe the group is well positioned to deliver meaningful like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter given recent price increases and the World Cup.” CHARLIE MENEGATOS | ACCENDO MARKETS “While the progress reported by Wetherspoons is on track and shows progress in growth and sales, we believe investors may [...]
Poundland bought for £200m May 5, 2010 Discount retailer Poundland has been sold to US private equity firm Warburg Pincus. The chain, based in Willenhall in the West Midlands, and Europe’s largest single priced discount retailer is expected to make sales of £700m by 2011. The company, founded in 1990, has 260 outlets across the UK. Its current owner, the rival buyout [...]
AB InBev boosted by Brazil May 5, 2010 Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev earned more than expected in the first three months of 2010 as beer sales grew in booming Brazil but said World Cup marketing costs would hit second-quarter profits. The brewer of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s said yesterday core like-for-like earnings rose 5.1 per cent in January-March to $3.09bn (£2bn). AB InBev [...]
Appetite for ISAs boosts L&G sales 2pc May 5, 2010 HEAVY demand for ISAs and savings products helped Legal & General grow sales by two per cent in the first quarter, but analysts cautioned that volatile markets may curb investors’ resurgent appetite. The FTSE 100 insurer saw new business tick up to £388m in first quarter results that broke through analyst forecasts. Sales of retail [...]
Numis profits soar threefold May 5, 2010 INVESTMENT banking and stockbroking group Numis has played a blinder over the first half of the year, raking in profits that were well over three times higher than those it recorded over the same period in 2009. Numis said it had attracted 15 new corporate clients over the first half, bringing its total to 126 [...]
Ping An gets approval to buy Chinese bank stake May 5, 2010 CHINESE regulators have approved a plan by Shenzhen-based powerhouse Ping An Insurance to buy a stake in Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) from US private equity firm TPG, Ping An said yesterday. TPG is expected to make a profit of more than $2.14bn on the sale – a return of more than seven times its original [...]
GDF Suez set to snap up Utilicom May 5, 2010 GDF SUEZ, the French energy giant, is to acquire Sussex-based Utilicom Group in a deal it hopes will deliver €1.5bn (£1.2bn) in sales over the next four years. The move is expected to create the UK’s largest district energy company and will see the birth of Cofely District Energy, which will form a part of [...]
MF Global to pay City trader £20m in damages after Court of Appeal ruling May 5, 2010 MAN FINANCIAL (MF) Global lost an appeal yesterday that will see it have to pay out almost £20m in damages to a trader who was deceived and defrauded by one of its brokers. A decision handed down by the Court of Appeal said that the broker, Matthew Bomford and the company he worked for, MF [...]
US senate agrees to drop $50bn bailout fund in bill May 5, 2010 THE US Senate made progress on a financial regulation reform bill yesterday, approving two amendments aimed at preventing a repeat of the massive taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street in 2008. The Senate voted 93-5 for a plan that would set up a new government protocol for seizing and dismantling large financial firms that are in [...]
