Notes on a scandal February 6, 2013 RBS took a £390m fine for Libor fiddling yesterday after watchdogs found that 21 staff had colluded with rivals over four years to fix the key market interest rates for the benefit of their own financial positions. Traders offered each other steaks and sushi in exchange for entering false interest rates to drive the Japanese [...]
Profits fall at B&Q owner November 29, 2012 Profits at DIY group Kingfisher fell by six per cent in the third quarter to £257m, due to a tough sales environment in the UK and France. The owner of the B&Q chain saw UK and Ireland sales fall by 3.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis. The firm is badly affected by the stagnating [...]
Is QE finally on the way for the Eurozone? January 10, 2014 A day after the European Central Bank (ECB) did what everyone thought it would do and didn't cut interest rates, Capital Economics thinks president Draghi knows he needs to act sooner rather than later, and that there's a good chance he will. "We think the ECB has more work to do in 2014", says [...]
Weak French economy leaves Kingfisher with flat sales November 28, 2013 Kingfisher has seen flat sales for the 13 weeks ended 2 November, due to a poorly performing French economy. Profits in France dropped by 5.6 per cent over the period. The owner of B&Q and Screwfix saw like-for-like sales in France of £1.17bn. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had expected a sales increase of 0.3 per [...]
Wincanton swings back to profit November 12, 2012 Supply chain company Wincanton returned to profit in the six months to September, posting pre-tax profits of £13m, up from a loss of £13.6m over the same period in 2011. Over the past six months, it has won several contracts in the retail sector, notably with B&Q and with Morrisons to operate a convenience distribution [...]
3i shares surge on interest from activist investor January 29, 2013 SHARES in private equity firm 3i Group jumped three per cent yesterday after it revealed that activist investor Edward Bramson’s Sherborne Investors and its broker Jefferies has been buying up shares. 3i took the unusual step of declaring to the market that Sherborne had bought 0.7 per cent of the firm’s share capital during January, [...]
Peppa Pig firm gets go-ahead for movie deal January 3, 2013 THE INDEPENDENT film company behind Peppa Pig and the Twilight films will close its purchase of movie distributor Alliance Films imminently, after the London-listed company won approval from Canadian competition authorities. Entertainment One is likely to complete the C$225m (£141.2m) deal next week, sources close to the deal said. The company said yesterday that it [...]
FTSE falls again as weak results dampen mood January 31, 2013 LONDON’S top shares closed lower yesterday as downbeat company earnings and mixed global economic data triggered the sharpest one-day fall on the FTSE 100 since mid-November. Earnings were in focus after updates from British oil heavyweight Royal Dutch Shell and drugmaker AstraZeneca, and Facebook in the United States, disappointed. Shell alone took 16 points off [...]
Focus on Marylebone: Where Holmes meets luxury homes January 16, 2014 HOUSE prices in Marylebone have risen by 28.5 per cent in the last five years and the trend looks set to continue, according to statistics from property website Zoopla. “We anticipate that within the next five years, prices in Marylebone, NW1, will increase by up to 25 per cent as the area benefits from further [...]
Rookie Vunipola ready to face world’s best, say England chiefs October 25, 2012 UNCAPPED Saracens prop Mako Vunipola has been backed to take the England set-up by storm after the 21-year-old was called up for next month’s autumn internationals. The youngster is one of four changes to the squad for Tests against Fiji, Australia. South Africa and New Zealand, with Leicester hooker Tom Youngs also in line for [...]