Serco profits surge by 30pc February 26, 2010 SUPPORT services firm Serco has posted a 30 per cent profit rise and predicted that the government would outsource more work after the general election. The group made a full-year pre-tax profit of £177.1m, with revenues 27 per cent higher at £3.97bn. Serco hiked its final dividend by a quarter to 6.25p a share while [...]
FTSE rocked as mining shares fall on commodity price drop February 23, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares shed 0.7 per cent yesterday, tracking early falls on Wall Street and pressured by weaker miners and energy issues as commodity prices fell with a firmer dollar after dull data. At the close, the FTSE 100 was 36.98 points lower at 5,315.09, having hit a one-month high earlier in the session. US [...]
No wonder there is no British Apple January 27, 2010 WHY isn’t there a British Apple? The sight of Steve Jobs standing up again on stage last night to unveil yet another blockbuster – this time, the iPad – is a stark reminder of how bad we have become at creating world-beating corporate giants. We’re still able to create a steady stream of small, successful [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 19, 2010 Collins Stewart The investment banking group’s wealth management division has hired Richard Christmas to its new corporate executive and employee trading (CEET) desk. He joins from Credit Suisse, where he worked with Michael Smith, now head of the CEET desk for Collins Stewart, which provides broker services to listed firms, their employees and third-party share [...]
How the Queen of support services wants to turn UK companies green January 6, 2010 GOING GREEN may not be the most original of strategies but that doesn’t make it any less lucrative. So Mitie Ruby McGregor-Smith’s decision to bet the future of her support services giant on cashing in on the trend for all things environmental has gone down well with investors. The FTSE 250 company is still busy [...]
VT is spurned by Mouchel in takeover bid December 14, 2009 MOUCHEL, the highways and government services company, yesterday confirmed it had rejected two takeover approaches from its larger rival VT Group, but said the larger group was still interested in making a deal. Mouchel said the offers, which were understood to have been at around 250p per share, were “wholly inadequate”, undervalued the company, and [...]
Cash rich VT eyes buyout of Mouchel December 13, 2009 VT GROUP, the shipbuilder-turned-support services company, has made two takeover approaches for a rival, it emerged over the weekend, as it shifts focus away from its defence roots. Outsourcing and engineering group Mouchel, whose share price moved massively on Friday after an interim management statement, is thought to have snubbed the secret offers. The move [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 25, 2009 ElectraThe private equity group has appointed Roger Perkin as a non-executive director. Perkin is a former senior partner at Ernst & Young, where he spent 40 years of his career. He was previously lead auditor to UBS from 1998 to 2005 and has worked for clients including 3i, Resolution and Henderson. He also recently advised [...]
Four business leaders tell the CBI of their vision for the future November 23, 2009 SERCOCHRIS HYMAN“To have transformative change in any government we need to see some bravery. We need brave and radical thinking. I see a vast need for services to improve everywhere from education to infrastructure. For too long the delivery of public services has focused on the delivery rather than the user.” PFIZERJEFFREY KINDLER“The political environment [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 2, 2009 Close Brothers Corporate FinanceThe independent corporate finance advisory firm has appointed Will Thompson to head up its support services sector team. Thompson joined the firm in March this year to lead the European healthcare services team, having previously been at Morgan Stanley. He has also worked at Lazard and Barings. He has advised on numerous [...]