Balfour appoints Hogg Robinson finance boss to replace Magrath January 20, 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE group Balfour Beatty has appointed Philip Harrison as chief financial officer, replacing Duncan Magrath. Harrison is currently group finance director at Hogg Robinson Group and has previously worked at government support services business VT Group and at Hewlett-Packard. He will take up his new position and join the Balfour board later in the year, [...]
Unilever sales disappoint after China slowdown January 20, 2015 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever reported lower-than-expected fourth quarter sales yesterday as it continued to grapple with a slowdown in demand for its products in emerging markets, particularly in China. The owner of Lipton tea and Dove soap said like-for-like sales rose by 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, in line with the third quarter, [...]
Chinese growth data pushes FTSE 100 higher – London Report January 20, 2015 MINING stocks boosted the FTSE 100 yesterday, after Chinese data beat expectations which pleased mining companies that export to the country, although a tepid outlook from Unilever kept confidence in check. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.5 per cent higher at 6,620.10 points, after earlier reaching its highest point since the start of 2015 at [...]
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley to raise £117m from Sports Direct share sale January 20, 2015 Goldman Sachs is selling up to 15.4m ordinary shares in sports retailer Sports Direct on behalf of founder and deputy executive Mike Ashley. In a statement the investment bank said it would immediately start selling the shares by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors. At today’s closing price of 751p per [...]
Sky and Talk Talk are the latest in the frame to buy O2 from Telefonica January 20, 2015 Sky and Talk Talk are the latest to join the queue of apparent bidders to snap up UK mobile business O2 from Telefonica. Talks between the Spanish telecoms firm and Sky and Talk Talk are said to be taking place, according to reports, just days after it was revealed China’s Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of [...]
Reckitt Benckiser fined half a million for market disclosure failing January 20, 2015 Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has been fined more than half a million pounds after failing to make a disclosure to markets correctly. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) handed out a penalty of £539,800 for “inadequate systems and controls to monitor share-dealing by its senior executives in its own shares” to the maker of [...]
William Hill shares fall despite posting record results January 20, 2015 William Hill's share price fell more than 5.5 per cent in early trading this morning, despite posting a record year's results. The figures Profits for the 52 weeks to December 30 rose 11 per cnet year on year to £371m, as revenue climbed eight per cent. The growth came from its online arm, which [...]
Unilever sales miss expectations – and there’s more of the same in 2015 January 20, 2015 Times remain tough at consumer goods giant Unilever as sales growth remained at its slowest in five years. Underlying sales at the owner of Ben & Jerry’s and Hellmann’s mayonnaise remained unchanged from their third quarter, growing 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, below analyst expectations. Overall, sales grew 2.9 per cent in 2014, [...]
IG Group had strong half year before Swiss franc share shock January 20, 2015 The figures IG Group performed well during the six months to 30 November, following a “very subdued first quarter”. Pre-tax profits were up 2.8 per cent at £101.4m, while net revenue rose by eight per cent to £197.4m. Why it's interesting Last week, the financial spread betting firm suffered badly at the hands of [...]
John Laing aims to expand in US after new float January 19, 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE investment firm John Laing Group is floating on the stock market in order to fund further growth overseas. The company, which focuses on infrastructure projects awarded under governmental public-private partnership (PPP) programmes, delisted in 2006 after being bought by fund managers Henderson. Yesterday the firm announced plans to raise £130m ahead of listing again [...]