St James’s Place stands by its targets July 30, 2008 Wealth manager St James’s Place reported a 5.3 per cent fall in its first half profits, but chairman Mike Wilson said it was standing by its key long term sales growth targets, despite volatile market conditions. Group operating profits at the wealth manager, which sells insurance and investment policies to affluent clients, fell to £114.2m [...]
Few bright spots in a dark day for Sony July 30, 2008 There were few glimmers of hope for Sony yesterday, after it revealed that first quarter net profit had plummeted by 47.4 per cent to ¥34.98bn (£207m). Nearly every area of the Japanese giant’s business, from music sales to electronics, posted worse than expected performances. Although sales volumes in electronics were up, reduced margins and an [...]
Informa receives second full takeover approach July 30, 2008 Informa shares spiked after the publisher and events organiser revealed it had received an approach from another potential suitor. Informa said it is still in discussions with a Providence Equityled consortium, but it has also now provided information to the new bidder. It stressed the approach was preliminary only. Buyout firms Providence Equity, The Carlyle [...]
Merrill soars on bet worst could be over July 30, 2008 Shares in embattled US banking titan Merrill Lynch jumped nearly 8 per cent yesterday after the bank agreed to sell a massive debt portfolio at a discount, raising investor hopes it was putting its problems behind it. CEO John Thain has gone back to shareholders to boost the bank’s capital reserves, despite repeated assurances to [...]
Abbey grabs lending lead July 30, 2008 Abbey is poised to topple Halifax as the UK’s top lender of new mortgages after revealing first half results today that showed the Spanish-owned bank now writes one in three new mortgages in Britain. As rival lenders withdrew mortgage deals from the perilous credit market, Abbey’s share of new lending rocketed to 35 per cent [...]
BP defiant in Russia July 30, 2008 Defiant BP chief executive Tony Hayward yesterday said the British oil giant would “not be intimidated by the strong arm tactics” of its warring oligarch partners at its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. Hayward said: “The other shareholders want to tear up the agreement that they willingly signed in 2003 We are not prepared to do [...]
Crosby review fails to please industry July 30, 2008 Property industry experts yesterday sharply criticised the government commissioned Crosby report on the crippled state of the mortgage market for failing to take immediate action to relieve the problem. In his interim report, published yesterday afternoon, Sir James Crosby, the former boss of HBOS, said the mortgage markets would remain jammed another three years, possibly [...]
BA and Iberia set to merge in £4bn deal July 30, 2008 BA’s Willie Walsh seeks to put the chaotic move to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 behind him British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia have started merger talks in a bid to create Europe’s third-largest airline, they announced yesterday. The two carriers, currently fourth and sixth in Europe by value, are working on a friendly all-share deal with [...]
Disaster-proof your business, it could save you millions July 30, 2008 In these technological times, clever companies prepare for catastrophes before they have happened, writes David Crow Here in the UK, businesses used to be able to view natural disasters as foreign and exotic. Of course, the images of destruction that played across television screens would elicit feelings of horror and sympathy, but the true cost [...]
Police close in on Antigua murder case July 30, 2008 Police in Antigua are questioning six suspects over the murder of a British doctor shot dead on her honeymoon, according to local media reports yesterday. Catherine Mullany, 31, was killed in her hotel room at a luxury resort on the Caribbean island. Her husband Benjamin Mullany, also 31, was shot in the neck and is [...]