Admiral hit by growth fears despite gains August 24, 2011 CAR insurance group Admiral shrugged off fears over the UK economy to post further double-digit profit and turnover gains in the first half of the year, but saw its share price slide due to fears over its business model. Admiral, which owns the price comparison site confused.com, said its pre-tax profit jumped 27 per cent, [...]
Derwent boss bullish about London rents August 24, 2011 SPENDING cuts are not hitting the capital’s commercial rental market, according to the chief executive of developer Derwent London. John Burns also said that global economic uncertainty had failed to hurt deals for offices in the firm’s West End heartland. He was speaking as Derwent reported a strong first-half rise in asset values and a [...]
Government outsourcing gives boost to Carillion August 24, 2011 SUPPORT services and construction group Carillion posted a 10 per cent rise in first-half profit yesterday, driven by a surge in demand for public sector outsourcing as cash-strapped local authorities looked to cut costs. The group, which maintains motorways, railways, military bases and telephone lines, said pre-tax profit increased to £72.5m on revenues two per [...]
Accord is upbeat on bookings August 24, 2011 ACCOR, Europe’s largest hotel group, said it remained “watchful” but reassured investors it had not seen any impact of global recession fears on September bookings, lifting its shares as much as four per cent. Accor, the world’s fourth-largest hotel group, also posted a 27.5 per cent rise in first-half earnings before interest and taxes to [...]
US markets make strong comeback August 24, 2011 US stocks posted strong gains for a second day yesterday as investors jumped back into beaten-down financial shares and backed away from safer assets like gold in volatile trading. The stock market swung back and forth as investors anticipated a key speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday. There had been hope the [...]
RESTAURATEURS FLOCK TO RENT 1 BISHOPSGATE IN CITY’S DINING BOOM August 22, 2011 IT IS not big enough for the new headquarters of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, which requires a capacious 100,000 square feet. But the four vacant office units at 1 Bishopsgate have attracted a “healthy level of interest” from insurance, finance, shipping, software and law firms – even a handful of hedge funds [...]
£50m bill for ITV as staff live longer August 22, 2011 ITV has moved to offload the risk associated with its huge pension fund deficit in a £1.7bn deal with Credit Suisse. The complex transaction will add £50m to ITV’s pension-deficit, last valued at £312m. It has been designed so ITV can protect itself against current and former workers living longer than expected. The broadcaster has [...]
Petrofac beats forecasts thanks to its contract with Malaysian state oil firm August 22, 2011 OIL services firm Petrofac posted a forecast-beating first-half profit, boosted by its business in Malaysia, and said it was confident demand from national oil firms would continue to fuel future growth. Petrofac, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure and also invests alongside oil firms in oil fields, yesterday posted net profit of $246.3m [...]
UK public finances go into surplus thanks to tax receipts August 19, 2011 The public finances posted an overall surplus in July as higher taxes and the bank levy boosted government receipts, bringing overall borrowing this fiscal year down and bringing the government closer to its targets. The Office for National Statistics said that public sector current budget swung to a surplus last month and net borrowing stood [...]
Dell slashes its revenue forecasts August 16, 2011 DELL slashed its 2012 revenue forecast as the outlook for technology spending this year weakened, sending its shares more than seven per cent lower. The personal computer maker yesterday lowered its estimate for full-year revenue growth to just one to five per cent, from five to nine per cent previously, adding that sales this quarter [...]