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February 29, 2008
by Kay Murchie
WPP, the world's second-largest advertising group, is optimistic for 2008 as it said underlying revenue growth would be better in 2008 than 2007.
The group announced revenue growth of 5% to £6.18 billion, boosted by a number of significant new contract wins at the end of 2007, including accounts from AT&T and Dell.
The company added that the sub-prime crisis ...
by Kay Murchie
Britain's biggest clothing retailer, Marks and Spencer, has announced its overseas expansion by purchasing a half share in a franchise operation in eastern Europe.
The retailer, which also sells food and homewares, said it had bought 50% of a venture with Greece's privately-owned Marinopoulos BV which operates 38 M&S stores in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Switzerland, for 50 million euros ...
by Kay Murchie
Redrow posted a 35% fall in half-year pre-tax profits and said the markets in which it operates remained 'clearly' challenging.
The housebuilder, based in Flintshire, said pre-tax profits from continuing operations for the half-year to the end of December slumped to £35.8 million from £54.7 million.
Total house sales for the period were 2,111, down 4.7% year-on-year. Redrow warned it expected volumes to ...
by Kay Murchie
Rentokil, the pest control-to-washroom services group, announced a second profit warning in as many months yesterday.
Shares in the company fell nearly 30% to 75.1p - their lowest level for 16 years. By lunchtime, they were down 24% at 79.8p. Rentokil’s future in the FTSE 100 index looks uncertain following the collapse in shares.
Furthermore, the group has been hit by problems in its ...
by Kay Murchie
The credit crisis has claimed another victim as London-based Peloton Partners was forced to liquidate a $2 billion (£1 billion) bond fund following severe losses.
The liquidation highlights the seriousness of the problems in credit markets. Last year the fund was a big success, generating an 87% return, primarily due to the success of its bets against sub-prime securities. ...
February 28, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
The U.S. economy has grown less than expected in the fourth quarter due to reduced consumer spending. If it were not for an increase in exports it is feared that a total stagnation could have occurred.
In this period the Gross domestic product rose at a 0.6 percent annualized rate, and according to John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investors Service ``this puts us ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were higher on Thursday, reaching a new high in New York on a number of economic and political issues, as well as on news of a fire at a natural gas terminal in England.
April contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude hit a new record at $102.74 per barrel before retreating slightly to $102.59 per barrel just ...
by Elaine Frei
Tokyo equities markets were mixed on Thursday as the yen strengthened against the US dollar and on anticipation of another decline in factory production this month. Production was down by 2 percent in January and analysts are saying that it will fall another 2.9 percent this month as production of ships and cars was down. Amid the worries, the ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar was weaker Thursday, hitting new lows versus the euro and the Swiss franc and nearing a two-and-a-half-year low versus the Japanese yen, while analysts were expecting more interest rate cuts after new comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke even as President George W. Bush told a press conference that the US economy is not headed for ...
by Kay Murchie
The chief executive of struggling airport operator, BAA, has quit amid a growing crisis at the company.
BAA, which runs Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, said the departure of Stephen Nelson follows a year of unprecedented criticism, particularly over conditions suffered by passengers at Heathrow.
Mr Nelson, a retail expert, will be replaced on 1 April by Colin Matthews, former chief executive ...
by Kay Murchie
Housebuilder Barratt Developments said half-year pre-tax profits increased by 10% to £194.6 million.
The second-largest homebuilder by volume and No.3 by market value, echoed larger rival Persimmon by reporting improved market conditions after global financial market turmoil cooled Britain’s decade-long housing market boom late last year as banks cut mortgage lending and buyer confidence slumped.
The housebuilder said visitor numbers at ...
by Kay Murchie
Munich-based carmaker BMW is to cut a further 5,600 jobs this year, in addition to the 2,500 jobs already eliminated.
In a bid to cut annual costs by $744 million (£380 million), the luxury carmaker said 2,500 full-time manufacturing positions will go, 2,500 part-time factory roles will go and 600 sales and distribution jobs.
The total number of job losses will ...
February 27, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices in New York and London hit new records before falling back to declines for the session on US inventories reports that exceeded expectations.
The US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stockpiles were up by 3.2 million barrels in the week ending 22 February, while gasoline inventories added 2.3 million barrels but distillates stockpiles were down by ...
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in New York were slightly higher Wednesday in the wake of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee indicated that the Fed is more worried about the faltering economy than inflation and stands ready to cut interest rates again if necessary. In early afternoon trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.09 ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar was lower versus the euro on Wednesday on comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed is “ready” to do what is necessary to protect the US economy.
This presumably includes cutting interest rates again, from the current level of 3 percent.
At around 11:30 ...
by Elisha Sanders
In a statement released by Standard Chartered on Tuesday, the company announced one of their best years in recent history and that they were well prepared to move through the changeable future of the banking sector.
It is still not known at this time, according to CEO Peter Sands, to what degree the economic deceleration and instability in the US ...
by Elisha Sanders
During January, private investors withdrew £550m ($1.08bn) from unit funds and trusts. This makes January that worst month ever recorded for the investment market.
According to the Investment Management Association, January is usually the 'Isa season' which is when private investors would usually set up tax-efficient savings accounts in anticipation of the end of the financial year, however this area too has ...
by Elisha Sanders
Banks and hedge funds have looked to the freight market in the past year, as it is one of the few not hit by the credit crisis and subsequent economic deceleration.
Forward contracts in freight, which are those that give shipowners and operators the power to lock in prices in advance, saw an increase of over 150% in the past year, mainly due ...
by Kay Murchie
Watford-based retail store, Select, has gone into administration. However, half of the 250 stores have already been sold to a management buy-out team.
UHY Hacker Young has been appointed as administrators and said the sale secured the full-time employment of roughly 1,000 employees.
UHY Hacker Young said that the remaining Select stores will stay open in an attempt to find a buyer. It ...
by Kay Murchie
Late last year, supermarket giant Tesco announced it was to embark on a major expansion of the west coast of America. It opened the first Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market in the city of Hemet which is about 75 miles east of Los Angeles.
However, the supermarket’s plans to make it big in the US have been questioned when a major ...
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