All-round positive outlook for 2011 worrying December 12, 2010 This is it – the last meaningful trading week of the year. This is the final opportunity for anyone wanting to move around a decent amount of stock or trying to place an order without sending prices haywire. The week when the futures and options expire and we all settle in to the two-week lull [...]
HMV shares plunge as its losses mount December 9, 2010 HMV shares dropped nearly 17 per cent yesterday as poor trading figures laid bare the company’s failing turnaround plan. The music, DVD, games and books retailer posted a worse-than-expected widening in first-half losses. Its share price dropped 16.57 per cent yesterday, to 36.50p HMV made an underlying pre-tax loss of £41.3m for the six months [...]
DS Smith posts 17.5pc profit lift December 9, 2010 BRITISH packaging and office products firm DS Smith posted a 17.5 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit on strong volume and revenue growth at its recycled packaging business, and said it was upbeat about the second half. The company, whose customers include Procter & Gamble and Nestle, also raised its interim dividend by a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 9, 2010 Adam & Company The private bank has hired Graham Storrie as managing director. He joins from parent company Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was most recently managing director of specialist advice. He brings with him over 30 years of experience in banking, investments and advice, having worked for organisations such as Standard Life, where [...]
Wolseley is confident as profits rise December 7, 2010 WOLSELEY, the world’s largest plumbers and builders merchant, posted a 39 per cent rise in first-quarter trading profit, helped by top-line growth in all regions. The FTSE 100 company said underlying operating profit rose to £159m in the three months to end-October, with like-for-like revenue up four per cent to £3.47bn. “This is a business [...]
Sberbank set for record year December 6, 2010 SBERBANK, Russia’s biggest lender, yesterday beat forecasts for third-quarter net profit, helped by a bigger loan portfolio and lower provisions, putting it on course for a record year. “We expect fourth-quarter results to be no worse than in the third quarter,” chief financial officer Anton Karamzin said on a conference call yesterday, adding full-year net [...]
WOMEN ON BOARDS: HEALTHY FOR BOYS, GIRLS AND THE BOTTOM LINE December 5, 2010 FOLLOWING the formation of the 30 Per Cent Club last month, which aims to get women filling 30 per cent of boardroom seats, shocking new research will hit City bookshelves this week, revealing what we at The Capitalist already suspected: upping the number of women in the boardroom is good for profits. The findings are [...]
TUX-CLAD SOLICITORS FLOCK TO FISH MARKET December 2, 2010 HUNDREDS of lawyers gave their well-worn tuxedos another outing last night as they gathered for the British Legal Awards hosted by Legal Week, with the barristers characteristically out-dressing the solicitors. Catching City of London law society chair Bill Knight sharing a drink with Norton Rose’s Sir David Lewis before the evening kicked off, The Capitalist [...]
BT retail chief joins the board at British Airways December 2, 2010 BT’S head of retail Gavin Patterson is to join the board of British Airways (BA). Patterson, who also has a place on the BT Group board, resigned as a director of Johnston Press last year. BA sales and marketing director Andrew Crawley, who was acquitted during the collapsed price fixing case in May, has been [...]
Wall Street surges as euro panic eases December 1, 2010 THE Dow and the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 posted their biggest gains in three months yesterday as efforts to resolve the European Union’s debt crisis helped push the S&P above 1,200, an important technical level that signals the potential for the rally to continue. The S&P 500 moved out of its recent trading range [...]