FirstGroup’s Carr moves over to Ahold September 14, 2011 DUTCH supermarket group Ahold yesterday appointed Jeff Carr as its new chief financial officer, picking an executive with experience at Unilever, Associated British Foods and easyJet. Carr, 49, is currently a board member at transport company FirstGroup and personal care products group McBride. Both firms said that he will be standing down, and FirstGroup said [...]
Deutsche beginning to make its presence felt September 12, 2011 NOTWITHSTANDING worries over the Eurozone and jitters about the state of the investment banking sector, there were some happy bankers at Deutsche Bank yesterday. Deutsche is the lead adviser on US group Colfax’s £1.5bn bid for Charter that was made yesterday, higher than a rival bid from the UK group Melrose. There are not many [...]
Reckitt probing Nurofen mix-up August 25, 2011 RECKITT Benckiser and AstraZeneca said they are investigating the cause of a mix-up that led to powerful anti-psychotic drugs ending up on pharmacy shelves in Nurofen Plus packaging. Reckitt, which makes Nurofen, said consumers in south London should check drugs for gold and black packaging, which could mean the pills inside are actually Seroquel XL, [...]
Reckitt lifted by emerging market boost July 25, 2011 EMERGING market growth offset weaker European sales to allow consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser to hike its interim dividend by ten per cent yesterday. Total like-for-like sales at the group, which makes Cillit Bang cleaners, Airwick air fresheners and Dettol disinfectant, rose by five per cent in the first half. However, European sales dropped one [...]
Pharma arm too reliant on heroin addict drug July 25, 2011 RECKITT Benckiser’s pharmaceuticals (RBP) arm has always been an odd fit for the rest of the company, which specialises in big bright cleaning brands like Harpic and Finish dishwasher tablets. The drugs division is interested in something altogether darker: heroin addiction. Things aren’t looking good for Suboxone, RBP’s drug for opiate addicts. It lost US [...]
Markets hit by US debt wrangling July 25, 2011 Stocks suffered another difficult day as sovereign debt worries, this time from the US, weighed on markets. The FTSE 100 saw volatile trading with low volumes as investors anxiously watched for signs of a breakthrough between Democrats and Republicans over the US’ national debt ceiling. The parties are at loggerheads and have just days left [...]
Reckitt earnings boosted by Suboxone drug July 25, 2011 Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser posted a 10 per cent rise in second-quarter earnings on Monday helped by last year’s SSL acquisition and the success of the film version of its Suboxone drug. The British group said it was well positioned to achieve its 2011 targets of a 12 per cent rise in net revenue [...]
THE TIPSTER July 24, 2011 DOMINO’S Pizza has been one of the success stories of the last couple of years as more and more people have opted to stay in rather than go out for dinner due to restricted finances and economic uncertainty. CMC Markets spread on Domino’s Pizza is 463.74p-464.97p Sainsbury’s dipped to a very significant long term support [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 20, 2011 ROLLS ROYCE Goldman Sachs rates the engine maker a “buy” with an 850p target price on its conviction buy list, as it believes it is well placed compared to its peers and has strong long-term growth prospects. The stock has more defensive characteristics than many cyclicals and should outperform, GS believes. The soon-to-close Tognum acquisition [...]
Positive earnings news buoys markets July 19, 2011 Markets tipped into the black today after days of sell-offs prompted by ongoing sovereign debt fears. UK stocks climbed on a raft of company news as quarterly earnings data proved largely positive. The FTSE 100 ended 0.7 per cent higher at 5,789.99 as banks and miners were bought widely after selling yesterday left them looking [...]