BAA jobs to go despite profit rise November 2, 2005 Airports operator BAA said it will axe 700 jobs, almost 6 per cent of its workforce, despite posting a 5 per cent increase in half-year pre-tax profits. The business, which operates seven of Britain’s airports, posted pre-tax profit up 5.2 per cent to £366m, on sharply increased sales, up 6.4 per cent, of £1.2bn. It [...]
Clinton slips into the red November 1, 2005 Clinton Cards was one of the day’s biggest fallers yesterday after the retailer revealed the integration of its new charge, Birthdays, was running five months behind schedule and announcing a slump in recent sales. The company posted a loss of £10.4m on sales of £250.5m in the six months to 31 July. Like-for-like sales were [...]
Sony soaring on a windfall October 28, 2005 Sony reported a better-than-expected rise in second-quarter profits due to a pensions windfall that offset falling prices in electronic products and high restructuring charges. The electronics giant announced a 52 per cent rise in operating profits to Y65.9bn (£320m) for the three months to 30 September, although sales remained the same as last year at [...]
More upheavals at Highbury House October 19, 2005 Mike Frey has left troubled magazine publisher Highbury House Communications just 18 days after his appointment as chief operating officer. In a brief statement yesterday the company, headed by former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, said Frey, who had at one stage been due to take over as chief executive, had “left the company by mutual [...]
Advisers in all night Refco talks October 17, 2005 Refco held a second day of weekend meetings yesterday as a group of about 50 advisers gathered in New York in an effort to salvage the disgraced group’s regulated futures brokerage arm and determine the fate of its ailing operations. The advisers had begun emergency meetings on Saturday that stretched late into the night to [...]