Strong US trading lifts Compass Group to first half rise in profits May 16, 2012 COMPASS Group, the world’s biggest caterer, posted a 7.7 per cent rise in first half profit yesterday, as strong trading in North America and emerging markets helped dampen the impact of challenging economic conditions in Europe. The group, which provides meals for the likes of office workers, soldiers and school children, said underlying pre-tax profit [...]
US corporate results round-up May 16, 2012 Deere & Co ups oulook DEERE & Co posted higher quarterly earnings and sales that topped estimates, and raised its full-year profit outlook yesterday on rising global demand for farm equipment. The US farm sector is booming on higher worldwide food demand and as biofuels help drive up crop production. Companies like Deere are benefiting [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2012 Brooks Macdonald The private client investment manager has announced the appointment of Justin Woolf to its intermediary sales team. He joins as an intermediary sales manager from Zurich Intermediary Group, where he was a senior broker consultant. Woolf has over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Thomas Miller Investment The investment management firm [...]
Car trade in first surplus since 1976 May 15, 2012 BRITAIN has posted its first quarterly trade surplus in cars since 1976 after cashing in on rising foreign demand for vehicles made in the UK. The value of car exports hit £6.1bn in the first quarter of the year, £561m ahead of the value of imports and up 20 per cent on the final three [...]
Dimon faces no pay revolt despite FBI probing loss May 15, 2012 JP MORGAN’S Jamie Dimon won the support of 91 per cent of shareholders for his pay package yesterday despite having presided over a $2bn (£1.25bn) trading loss from a botched hedging strategy. US regulators widened their investigation into the losses, with the FBI and Department of Justice now “looking into it”, according to the FBI, [...]
UK goods trade deficit stable May 15, 2012 Britain’s goods trade deficit stayed largely unchanged in March despite a rebound in exports to countries outside the European Union as overall import values also grew to a record level, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade deficit inched down to £8.56bn in March from £8.59bnin February. Economists had forecast [...]
Rusal earnings fall by 84pc as metal takes hit May 15, 2012 RUSAL, the world’s biggest aluminium producer, yesterday posted an 84 per cent drop in first-quarter net profit as metal prices fell. Net profit, which included its share of earnings in Norilsk and non-cash items, slumped to $74m (£46m) in the three months ended March from $451m a year earlier. While global aluminium consumption in the [...]
Queen of Wall Street quits as JP Morgan clears the decks May 14, 2012 JP MORGAN cleared out the entire senior team in its chief investment office (CIO) last night after Ina Drew, one of Wall Street’s most powerful women, quit the bank over $2bn (£1.24bn) in hedging losses. According to an internal memo seen by City A.M., Achilles Macris, who led the trading desk that placed the bank’s [...]
Channel 4 ups UK investment May 14, 2012 CHANNEL 4 yesterday posted an annual pre-tax profit of £44m, down 19 per cent, as its share of viewing declined slightly. But revenues climbed by £6.2m to £941.4m, boosted by profits from box office success The Inbetweeners Movie, prompting the broadcaster to increase its budget for UK commissions by £5m to a historic high of [...]
DIMON: I WAS DEAD WRONG May 13, 2012 In an extraordinary mea culpa, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said yesterday that he had been “dead wrong” to deny rumours that the bank could lose billions on a botched hedging strategy, a scandal that is likely to force several of the bank’s senior executives to quit. “I was dead wrong,” said Dimon in [...]