EDF profits up but investors fear regulation change February 15, 2011 French power company EDF has posted higher annual profits but disappointed investors with a profit forecast suspected to be over-optimistic as de-regulation of the French market kicks in. The former French monopoly is being forced to sell up to a quarter of its domestic nuclear output to competitors to help open up markets. Traders said [...]
Inflation rises to two-year high February 15, 2011 Consumer price inflation surged to double the Bank of England’s target in January, official data showed, raising pressure on the central bank to look seriously at increasing interest rates. The Office for National Statistics said that the rate of consumer price inflation rose to four per cent in January, in line with economists’ forecasts, from [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS EDITED BY JULIET SAMUEL February 14, 2011 Mazars The law firm has appointed a national head of tax in the UK: Tim Davies (pictured). He has been at the firm for four years, advising on a range of clients. He will now head up a practice of more than 200 professionals in tax. Previously, he worked at advisory firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & [...]
Egypt strikes force holiday February 13, 2011 EGYPT has been forced to declare today a bank holiday after workers emboldened by the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak and angered by low wages and poor working conditions disrupted operations at the country’s state banks. Banks were already due to be closed tomorrow to mark Prophet Mohamed’s birthday. Now the market is likely to [...]
Esprit profit drops February 10, 2011 Clothing retailer Esprit Holdings posted a 21 per cent fall in first-half net profit and will switch its textile sourcing to Bangladesh from southern China to cut costs. Esprit, like rivals such as the world’s No3 fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz faces the challenge of rising raw material costs, such as cotton, which will pressure [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown in profit surge February 10, 2011 Hargreaves Lansdown on Thursday posted a 38 per cent rise in first-half underlying pre-tax profit, aided by buoyant global markets, and the British wealth manager and stockbroker said it was well placed to build on the momentum. The Bristol-based company, which provides investment management products and services to private investors in the UK, declared an [...]
Xchanging tanks on torrent of bad news February 9, 2011 ALARMED investors wiped out half of outsourcing firm Xchanging’s market value yesterday after the firm warned on its profits, scrapped its dividend and announced that its chief executive had left. Xchanging, which sponsors the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, also said it will take a £100m impairment charge linked to the loss of goodwill from [...]
HELPING THE CITY THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX February 9, 2011 WHAT does a FTSE 250 chairman do when he’s not scrutinising business plans and keeping shareholders happy? Well if you’re John Pluthero, chair of Cable & Wireless (below right), then the answer is you launch an initiative to challenge accepted ideas surrounding abstract art, of course. Building on his long-held interest (and collection) in post-war [...]
Toyota third-quarter profit falls almost 50 per cent February 8, 2011 Japanese carmaker Toyota has reported a 47.6 per cent drop in quarterly profit, hit by slumping Japanese car sales and a firm yen that underlined its exposure to loss-making exports. But the company has raised its 2011 outlook to slightly above the market consensus expectations as cost cuts take effect. Toyota’s October-December operating profit was [...]
Lord Myners takes fresh job in the City February 7, 2011 EX-CITY minister Lord Myners this week added a second non-executive role to his portfolio, with his appointment as a partner and chairman of Autonomous Research, the independent research firm. And he is thought to have a third on the way as chairman of billionaire Nicolas Berggruen’s new acquisition vehicle which is seeking to raise around [...]