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October 31, 2007
by Stewart Douglas
The Royal Mail announced today that profits over the last financial year have been significantly hurt by an unforeseen increase in employee pension contributions, one of the subjects of the recent nationwide postal strike that disrupted postal services.
The Royal Mail group reported today that it had raised over £230 million in revenues over the course of the financial year, ...
by Stewart Douglas
Telecomms company Alcatel-Lucent has today announced it intends to lose another 4,000 positions over the next two years in a bid to continue its commitment to reducing costs in order to improve consistent poor performance over recent quarters.
The company today unveiled substantial losses totalling 260 million euros for the third quarter, continuing the poor performance that has seen it run aground since its formation in December ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices jumped on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that inventories dropped in the week ending 26 October.
West Texas Intermediate crude December contracts added $4.15 to $94.53 per barrel, a new closing record, after going as high as $94.74 per barrel during the session for a new all-time high as well.
Nymex December gasoline added 9 cents to ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar was weaker against both the euro and sterling again on Wednesday as investors waited to see what the Federal Reserve would do about interest rates.
In mid-afternoon trade in New York, the dollar stood at $1.4459 in relation to the Euro, while it was at $2.0782 against sterling, at $1.0515 versus the Canadian dollar and at $0.9257 against the Australian dollar.
Meanwhile, ...
by Elaine Frei
Results were mixed in Asia-Pacific region equities markets on Wednesday, with most higher on the session. Exceptions included Taiwan’s Taiex index, which fell 0.48 percent to 9,711.37. In addition, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.9 percent in Hong Kong. Among gainers, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 was 0.06 percent higher to 6,754.1 while the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.1 percent to 6,779.1. ...
by Kay Murchie
Imperial Tobacco, Britain’s biggest cigarette manufacturer, said yesterday that its £8.8 billion acquisition of Spanish firm, Altadis, will not be finalised until January 2008. The group had anticipated completing the deal by the end of this year.
Imperial's chief executive, Gareth Davis, said the deal had taken longer than originally anticipated due to the changes in Spanish takeover rules in August.
In spite of the ...
by Kay Murchie
Britain’s No1 nightclub firm has announced half year pre-tax profits of £12.6 million, a rise of 56%.
Chief executive, Stephen Thomas, said there had been only a marginal impact on sales at the dancing venues following the smoking ban which commenced on 1 July this year.
Luminar said its theme nights for single, divorced and separated people are a success and a ...
by Kay Murchie
A survey has established that consumer confidence has fallen for the fourth consecutive month in October showing that shoppers are more reluctant to make major purchases than at any time since the mid 1990’s.
Research group GfK NOP's consumer confidence barometer fell to -8 in October from -7 in September. This was in accordance with analysts’ expectations and therefore, caused ...
October 30, 2007
by Stewart Douglas
The world's largest computer mouse and keyboard manufacturer Logitech has today announced a significant fall in profits over its second financial quarter, as a result it says of a charge taken in respect of losses incurred on certain sub-prime linked investments.
The announcement marks the latest in a long line of finance and non-finance sector institutions to be hit by the sub-prime sector crisis, which could ultimately ...
by Elaine Frei
Sterling saw gains Tuesday as most analysts expected that the Bank of England will keep interest rates in the UK on hold when it meets on November 8 as recent data showed that the UK economy expanded at a faster rate than had been expected in the third quarter.
At nearly 1 p.m. in New York, sterling was trading at $2.0665 to the ...
by Stewart Douglas
Hopes of an acquisition of sportswear manufacturer Umbro by industry giant Nike were today dashed as a rival shareholder increased its stake in the company behind the England national shirt.
Shareholder Sports Direct International has today increased its holding in Umbro, the company behind many of the English premier division's football shirts and their lucrative replica sales channels, to just under 30%, making it the major shareholder just one week after ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were significantly lower Tuesday as they dropped from record levels after production facilities in Mexico that had been offline due to bad weather were set to reopen and OPEC said that speculation and politics were to blame for high oil prices even as some analysts said that fundamentals, not speculation, were the cause of the price spike.
West Texas ...
by Elaine Frei
Most Asia-Pacific region equities markets were lower on Tuesday. The major exceptions were in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index set its fourth record in a row as it closed 0.16 percent higher to 31,638.22, and in Shanghai, where the Shanghai Composite jumped 2.6 percent to 5,897.19. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.52 percent to 6,772.50 and ...
by Kay Murchie
Schroders, the fund management group seems to be unaffected by the recent credit crunch after posting a 53% increase in third quarter profits today.
The sharp increase in profits came in spite of a net outflow of funds under management.
The group said funds under management at September 30 were £137.7 million, an increase from the £137.6 million posted ...
by Kay Murchie
Baugur, which owns House of Fraser, has announced that it may make a joint bid for the upmarket US department store chain Saks.
Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE) comprises 54 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 49 Saks Off 5th stores, 62 Club Libby Lu specialty stores and saks.com.
Baugur, the Icelandic retail investor, said it may link up with Dubai-owned retailer Landmark Group ...
by Kay Murchie
Two of the world’s biggest banks warned yesterday that they have been hit by exposure to bad debt in the sub-prime US mortgage sector
UBS, the Swiss investment bank and one of London’s major employers, made a pre-tax loss in the third quarter of 726m Swiss francs (£304 million), its first loss in nearly 5 years.
UBS's new chief executive Marcel ...
October 29, 2007
by Stewart Douglas
Breakfast cereal group Kellogg has today issued a profit warning for 2007 and 2008 in light of rising global wheat prices which it expects to impact upon the profitability of its business over the period, resulting in share prices plummeting by almost 5% on the day.
The world's most prominent cereal brand, behind products such as Corn Flakes, Coco Pops, Frosties and ...
by Stewart Douglas
Leading global VOIP provider Skype has today announced it has teamed up with mobile phone network 3 to launch the world's first voice over internet protocol mobile handset in a move that has seen significant technological advancements into the modern communications market.
The eBay owned telecomms company has announced that its services are to be available at the touch of a button ...
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher again on Monday, with some indices reaching new records. In India, the Sensex rose above 20,000 for the first time, going as high as 20,024.67 during the session before closing at a record 19,977.67, a gain of 3.82 percent. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 3.89 percent with a gain of ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were higher again on Monday on a falling dollar, a closure of some Mexican production due to bad weather, continuing tensions between Turkey and Iraq, and worries about winter supplies.
West Texas Intermediate for December delivery added $1.67 to $93.53 per barrel at the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude on ...
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