EARNINGS SEASON | CALENDAR August 1, 2010 Monday 2 August Xchanging – UK Thomas Cook – UK Hammerson – UK Tullett Prebon – UK HSBC – UK Intertek – UK Mouchel – UK Qinetiq – UK Berkshire Hathaway – US Warner Music Group – US Linde – Germany BNP Paribas – France Air Liquide – France Tuesday 3 August ITV – UK [...]
Bradford & Bingley back in the black July 30, 2010 Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender which was nationalised after running into problems during the credit crisis, said on Friday it had swung to a first-half profit after making a loss a year earlier. The bank reported a pretax profit of £896m for the six months ending June 30, having made a loss of £160m [...]
Exxon Mobil tops Wall St as output rises eight per cent July 29, 2010 EXXON MOBIL reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit, with oil prices and margins to process crude into fuel rebounding and production rising. Profits for the US-based group came to $7.56bn (£4.83bn) in the quarter excluding items, compared with $4.09bn a year ago. Oil and gas output in the quarter rose eight per cent, boosted by the [...]
AstraZeneca profits rise July 29, 2010 ASTRAZENECA, the UK’s second-largest drugs company, doubled its 2010 share buyback plan to $2bn (£1.3bn) yesterday after posting strong results and clearing several regulatory hurdles in the US. Pre-tax profit in the second quarter rose to $6.4bn (£4.1bn) from $5.6bn in the same period a year ago, on sales up three per cent at $8.18bn, [...]
Bumper UK earnings fail to lift FTSE as bank sell-off weighs July 29, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed easier yesterday as a retreat from banks and investor caution ahead of US growth data offset a batch of robust UK corporate earnings from companies including AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 closed down 5.73 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,313.95, after it ended 0.9 per cent lower on Wednesday. AstraZeneca advanced [...]
House price fall fuels fear of double-dip July 29, 2010 FEARS of a sustained double-dip in Britain’s property market intensified yesterday after mortgage lender Nationwide reported that house prices fell this month for the first time since February and the Bank of England revealed that mortgage approvals dropped to a four-month low in June. The latest figures from Nationwide showed that house prices fell by [...]
Migrant row overshadows Indian deals July 28, 2010 DAVID Cameron yesterday smoothed the way for a flurry of deals with India on a trade mission to the emerging superpower, but simmering tensions over plans to cap immigration in Britain threatened to turn into a full-scale row. The Prime Minister is leading a 90-strong delegation, which includes top business figures like Barclays boss John [...]
Japanese banks face uncertainty July 28, 2010 JAPAN’S third-biggest bank stuck to its full-year forecast yesterday despite reporting robust first-quarter earnings, due to uncertainty about the economic outlook. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SFMG) said net profit soared nearly three-fold to 211.8bn yen (£1.55bn) in the three months to the end of June. Citigroup analyst Hironari Nozaki had forecast the bank would earn [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 28, 2010 Collins Stewart The financial advisory group has appointed a new equity research, sales and corporate broking team, focused on the mining sector and headed by John McGloin (pictured). McGloin has worked as an analyst for the past eight years at Beeson Gregory and Evolution. He is joined by mining analysts Tim Dudley and Andrei Kroupnik; [...]
Northern Rock finance boss is fined for fudging figures July 27, 2010 A FORMER Northern Rock finance director has been fined £320,000 and banned from working in banking. David Jones admitted allowing false mortgage figures to appear in a document released along with the firm’s accounts. He allowed the false reporting to continue for almost a year in the firm’s trading updates. The figures masked the extent [...]