Centrica fall is blamed on the weather July 28, 2011 CENTRICA, the UK’s largest energy supplier, said pre-tax profits dropped by 19 per cent in the first half of the year after higher wholesale prices and warmer weather took its toll on its residential energy business. The utility firm saw its adjusted operating profits fall to £1.26bn in the six months to 30 June, which [...]
Recessionary data brushed off as FTSE mirrors gains seen on Wall St April 25, 2012 THE UK’s blue-chip index closed up yesterday, shrugging off weak UK GDP figures showing Britain slipped back into recession and disappointing first-quarter results from drugmaker Glaxosmithkline, as investors awaited results from a key US Federal Reserve meeting. Early gains on the FTSE 100 index were led by a rise on Wall Street, which opened up [...]
Centrica sees £1.3bn profit July 28, 2011 British Gas owner Centrica has seen operating profits of £1.3bn in the six months to 30 June. The figure was down 19 per cent on the same period last year. The results include a 54 per cent fall in operating profits at its residential energy division, British Gas, to £270m. Yesterday British Gas was fined [...]
Centrica raises gas and electricity prices July 8, 2011 Centrica has said that it will raise its gas and electricity prices. The British has owner will increase gas prices by 18 per cent and electricity by 16 per cent. British Gas customers to see their bills fly up 25 per cent or £258, the average household bill for a dual British Gas customer will [...]
FTSE buoyed by miners and banks March 8, 2012 The FTSE 100 pushed higher this morning as investors gained confidence in Greece’s chances of completing a lifesaving bond swap later today. Major banks and pension funds, representing about 40 per cent of Greece’s outstanding debt, threw their weight behind Athens’ bond swap offer to private creditors yesterday. That should be eno€130bn fund for Greece [...]
Lazard poaches a BofA banker January 9, 2012 LAZARD, the independent investment bank, has poached a well-regarded managing director from rival Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Noah Bulkin is joining Lazard’s financial advisory team and is likely to continue acting mostly for retail clients. In the past he has worked on a string of high-profile deals such as Odeon and UCI Cinema’s £300m [...]
Centrica says gas costs are hitting profit June 28, 2011 BRITISH energy giant Centrica has said its profits in the first half of 2011 will be lower than last year, and hinted that it could raise household bills to help offset this drop. Centrica said UK residential energy will deliver just half the operating profits that it did in 2010, blaming higher commodity and operating [...]
RBS spearheads banks’ rally on FTSE February 23, 2012 The FTSE staged a rally this morning spearheaded by banks as investors gave a positive reaction to RBS results. Markets yesterday had been dented by surging oil prices which triggered fears that world global growth could be hampered while data in the Eurozone suggested that the bloc could lurch into recession. Banking stocks jumped in [...]
Amec in £400m buyback plan February 21, 2012 AMEC yesterday announced a £400m share buyback and hiked its dividend on the strength of its 2011 profits. The engineer, which is a consultant to energy industry big hitters including Centrica and ConocoPhillips, said it had been buoyed by a string of acquisitions and was on the hunt for more. AMEC posted full-year earnings before [...]
Banks can trip in search of a rise up the table February 20, 2012 INVESTMENT bankers are pleased with any pickings these days and in the past few weeks there has been healthy signs of action in the world of block trades. This is a phenomenon whereby a bank offers to buy a block of shares in one company and sell it on. The idea is that, hopefully, the [...]