Irish bailout concerns hit FTSE hard November 16, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index recorded its biggest fall in three months yesterday as concerns over Irish government debt and the prospect of another euro zone bailout dragged banking and commodity-related stocks lower. At the close the FTSE 100 was down 138.51 points, or 2.4 per cent, at 5,681.90, its biggest daily fall since 11 August. [...]
Greene King bullish for 2010 as food sales give it a boost April 28, 2010 PUB group Greene King said yesterday it was confident of meeting its full-year profit forecasts, boosted by strong sales of food, although it remains cautious on the outlook for consumer spending. The company, which has around 2,500 pubs in England and Scotland, said in a trading update that retail like-for-like sales were up 3.6 per [...]
Japan wins the forex ugly contest June 8, 2010 IT IS testament to the uncertainty of the times that the yen, the currency of a country with public debt at over 200 per cent of GDP, is still viewed as a “safe haven.” But as CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson says: “Currencies are vying for the title in battle of the uglies” and the yen [...]
FTSE 100 hits six-month high on US and European results October 21, 2010 Britain’s leading shares surged to a six-month closing high yesterday, led by miners, as UK investors were buoyed by strong earnings in the US and Europe, but TUI Travel fell after reporting accounting errors. Europe’s largest travel firm TUI Travel slumped more than 11 per cent after it revealed its finance chief would quit and [...]
FTSE 100 hits six-month high on US and European results October 21, 2010 Britain’s leading shares surged to a six-month closing high yesterday, led by miners, as UK investors were buoyed by strong earnings in the US and Europe, but TUI Travel fell after reporting accounting errors. Europe’s largest travel firm TUI Travel slumped more than 11 per cent after it revealed its finance chief would quit and [...]
Next ups forecasts after revenue boost May 5, 2010 NEXT yesterday revised its full-year profit forecasts upwards after seeing a 4.1 per cent increase in total sales in the first quarter. The retailer’s Directory was mainly responsible for the positive figure after the catalogue recorded a 7.2 per cent jump. High street sales were up by only 2.8 per cent. Like for like sales [...]
Philips profits soar after lighting sales boost April 19, 2010 GLOBAL electronics giant Philips has reported a pre-tax profit pf £283m for the first three months of the year. The Dutch company’s performance in the first quarter compared with big losses in 2009. Sales of its televisions and lighting products – which jumped by 18 per cent – helped to boost the latest figures, the [...]
Get ready for changes in bank sector November 23, 2010 CUSTOMER confidence in the banks is low. You would therefore think that the time was ripe for new entrants to the banking market. There was a time when scarcely a week went by without somebody saying they were about to become a bank. Tesco, Virgin and Metro Bank are lining up to offer the full [...]
Philips sees the light as quarterly profits rebound April 19, 2010 GLOBAL electronics giant Philips has reported a pre-tax profit of €320m (£283m) for the first three months of the year. The company’s performance in the first quarter compared with big losses in 2009. Sales of its lighting products – which jumped by 18 per cent – helped to boost the latest figures, the firm said. [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD April 11, 2010 AFTER a slew of central bank monetary policy decisions last week, this week is dominated by consumer-focused data. In the UK, we’ll get the British Retail Consortium’s March figures and the RICS’ house price balance for last month at midnight tomorrow. Thursday at midnight sees the release of the March Nationwide consumer confidence survey. It [...]