Croda ups divi as profits rise July 24, 2012 CHEMICALS firm Croda reported a six per cent increase in first-half profit yesterday as the company sold more higher-margin products and strong demand in North America offset softness in Europe. The company, which counts Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L’Oreal and Estee Lauder among its customers, said adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £132.6m from £124.8m a [...]
Permira plans £400m Birds Eye refinancing July 8, 2012 Private equity house Permira is considering a refinancing of frozen food firm Birds Eye, which would land the firm a €500m (£397m) windfall. Under the terms of the refinancing, the level of Birds Eye’s debt would expand to almost €2bn from €1.4bn. Permira, which bought the UK-based frozen food producer from Unilever for €1.6bn in [...]
Birds Eye sale set to be frozen as Permira hunts for growth June 25, 2012 PRIVATE equity house Permira could call a halt to the sale of frozen foods maker Iglo after deciding a €2.5bn (£2.01bn) joint bid from Blackstone and BC Partners had come in short. Permira is happy to retain and continue to grow Iglo, which it bought from Unilever in 2006 for €1.7bn before bolting on Findus [...]
Market report: FTSE drops after Moody’s downgrade banks June 22, 2012 The FTSE was down this morning following poor global growth forecasts and the decision by credit ratings agency Moody’s to downgrade some of the world’s biggest banks. Last night Moody’s lowered the credit ratings of 15 of the world’s biggest lenders to reflect the risk of losses they face from volatile capital markets. But the [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 21, 2012 Osborne Clarke Sue Gold has joined the law firm as a partner in its privacy and data protection team. She joins from the Walt Disney Corporation, where she was principal counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Gold has over 15 years’ experience in data protection and previously worked for five years at UBS. LV [...]
Biggest deal in years for WPP as it buys digital agency stake June 20, 2012 SIR MARTIN Sorrell’s ad company WPP yesterday agreed to buy a majority stake in AKQA, one of the world’s most prestigious digital marketing agencies. In an deal that gives AKQA an enterprise value of $540m (£343m), WPP bought General Atlantic out of its 80 per cent stake and took an undisclosed amount of the 20 [...]
Market report: FTSE benefits from caffeine hit as inflation falls June 19, 2012 Coffee and a promise to safeguard the Eurozone from further contagion pushed the FTSE up 0.4 per cent in early trading this morning. As a result London’s blue chip index broke through the 5,500 level – a technical level seen as key for spurring further buying. Last night European leaders at the G20 summit in [...]
Unilever set to axe 800 jobs and close four British plants June 14, 2012 ABOUT 800 British jobs will be lost after consumer goods giant Unilever said it would close four plants. The firm, which produces brands including PG Tips tea, Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream and Brylcreem, will move some jobs to India and to its historic home of Port Sunlight on Merseyside. It has announced plans to close its hair care [...]
InterContinental names Cescau as chairman May 25, 2012 Unilever veteran Patrick Cescau is to become the new chairman of the world’s biggest hotelier InterContinental Hotels Group at the beginning of next year following the retirement of the 67-year old David Webster. French born Cescau, aged 63, spent 35 years working for the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant culminating in his role as chief executive [...]
FTSE rises fuelled by miners May 22, 2012 The FTSE 100 picked up again this morning as some of last week’s losses were recouped. Hopes that Eurozone leaders were making progress as they tackled the debt mountain engulfing the bloc helped sentiment. One of the ideas to save struggling economies is to issue eurobonds. But an OECD report warned that the fragile global [...]