Unilever to appoint ex-Bristol Myers man as next CFO December 14, 2009 UNILEVER, the company behind Marmite, Magnum ice creams and Dove soap, is poised to appoint Jean-Marc Huet as its next chief financial officer, City A.M. can confirm. Sources said Unilever will announce the appointment either today or tomorrow. Huet resigned as finance chief of Bristol-Myers Squibb yesterday. The pharmaceutical company said he would leave at [...]
Top businesses urge Gordon Brown to fight for emissions cut in Copenhagen December 2, 2009 SOME of Britain’s biggest businesses are today urging the Prime Minister to fight for a global cut in carbon emissions at next week’s climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change – which includes firms such as Shell, Tesco and Unilever – will tonight present a communiqué endorsed [...]
M&S and ITV brighten up dull day of trading for FTSE November 18, 2009 THE UK’s main market ticked down slightly yesterday, as an unexpected drop in US housing figures spooked investors and weakness in food retailers and tobacco firms outpaced gains in miners and energy companies. The FTSE100 closed 0.1 per cent lower at 5,342.13 with Cable & Wireless, Unilever, Vodafone and HSBC going ex-dividend. Marks & Spencer [...]
Unilever sales surge but no Cadbury bid November 5, 2009 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever yesterday beat City forecasts with a 3.6 per cent rise in third-quarter underlying volume sales, and ruled out launching a bid for confectionary group Cadbury. News of a potential candidate ruling itself out of a bidding war will not help matters for Cadbury who may have been counting on a white [...]
Nestl boss says he should have seen off rivals November 2, 2009 NESTLE, the world’s biggest food group, should have reacted faster to competitors’ price cuts to avoid slowing sales, chief executive Paul Bulcke said in an interview. Bulcke said the group, whose sales growth this year lagged that of competitors such as Unilever, Danone and Kraft Foods, should have seen the danger of losing market share [...]
HOW WILL THESE RESULTS AFFECT KRAFT’S PLANS TO BUY CADBURY? October 21, 2009 MARTIN DEBOO INVESTECCadbury have come out fighting. But, for us, the quality of the third-quarter and first-half growth is not premier cru. However, we think this will be enough to cause Kraft et al to think hard about a fair exit valuation. GRAHAM JONES PANMURE GORDONWe think this statement, plus confidence expressed about 2010 and [...]
Pick the right defensive firm to protect your stock portfolio October 19, 2009 DESPITE analysts’ continued calls for a much-needed pullback in global equity markets, the FTSE 100 has stubbornly risen to the 5,200 mark. And if you believe that equities are due a correction, then you might want to bulk up your portfolio with a few defensive stocks as they tend to remain relatively stable, even in [...]
Cadbury will aim to paint a defensive Q3 picture October 18, 2009 CADBURY, currently under siege from a bid by Kraft, will look to paint a picture of growth at this week’s update and try and see off the predator by highlighting its sales, volumes and margin trends. The world’s second largest confectionery group is due to issue a third quarter update on Wednesday after rejecting a [...]
Ad industry to fight back October 18, 2009 Advertising Association chief executive Tim Lefroy will this week urge members to retaliate against dwindling public trust in advertising, after a survey found that only 15 per cent of adults “generally” trust advertising. Lefroy blames lobbyists for the lack of trust. Advertisers such as Barclays, Unilever and Diageo are uniting to provide a fund into [...]
Range of large cap firms set to give markets an overview October 18, 2009 THERE is a mixed bag of companies reporting this week, but the diverse selection will give investors plenty to digest. FTSE 100 software company Autonomy will post its third quarter results tomorrow, though its management have already signalled that it will be another strong performance. It said earlier this month that it expects to report [...]