City Matters: It’s time for financial results to reflect the new face of post-crisis business December 8, 2013 ONE OF the charges that has often been laid against the City in recent years is that it has been too focused on short-term value. Many things have changed as a result of the crash, and one of them has been an increased awareness that the way companies currently report results is not fit for [...]
Best of the Brokers for 15 October 2013 October 14, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TRAVIS PERKINS Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its target price from 1460p to 1900p and changed its rating from “underperform” to “buy” in a double upgrade that sent shares up nearly five per cent yesterday. The broker believes the builders’ merchant is [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 1 October 2013 September 30, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Weidmann in sovereign debt warning Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, has risked angering Europe’s crisis-hit governments by warning of the dangers posed by high levels of sovereign debt on banks’ balance sheets. He wrote: “The time is ripe to address the regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures.” US asset managers face extra scrutiny [...]
Emerging markets help to drive growth at consumer giant Nestle October 17, 2013 NESTLE said yesterday that an improvement in emerging market demand helped to lift sales growth in the third quarter, reassuring investors worried by recent negative news from European peers Danone and Unilever. The world’s biggest food group and its rivals have been grappling with sluggish consumer demand in austerity-hit Europe, where prices for Nestle’s products [...]
London Report: Aberdeen Asset Management buy lifts FTSE November 18, 2013 BRITAIN’S top equity index rose slightly yesterday, lifted by a rally in Aberdeen Asset Management and ambitious economic reform plans in China, a key export market for some UK blue chips. Shares in Aberdeen jumped 14.7 per cent, the biggest daily gain in five years, after it bought SWIP, Lloyds Banking Group’s fund management arm, [...]
Collins makes a good start at KPMG but the hard part’s to come December 15, 2013 This probably hasn’t been the easiest year to be the top dog at one of the country’s big four accountancy groups. The industry is still wracked with self doubt as to whether it should or could have spotted the problems that led to the financial crash earlier, and, to make matters worse, the Big Four [...]
Unilever sales propelled by emerging markets January 23, 2013 Consumer giant Unilever this morning posted a 10.5 per cent jump in turnover, boosted by growth in emerging markets. The Anglo-Dutch group said sales for the full year came in at €51.3bn (£43bn), in line with forecasts. Emerging markets sales, which represent 55 per cent of turnover, soared 11.4 per cent, Unilever said. “These results [...]
Unilever profits from emerging market growth January 23, 2013 ANGLO-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever said yesterday full-year sales exceeded €50bn (£42bn) for the first time thanks to strong demand for its soaps and hair products in emerging markets. The owner of PG Tips, Persil and Cif Cleaning brands yesterday said pre-tax profit rose seven per cent in 2012 to €6.68bn on sales up 10.5 [...]
AG Barr hires its first female non-executive October 8, 2013 SCOTTISH soft drinks company AG Barr has appointed its first female non-executive to its all-male board. The Irn-Bru maker announced yesterday that Pam Powell, a UK-based American who also sits on the board of Premier Foods, will join the group on 1 November. The 50-year-old spent nine years at brewing giant SAB Miller as director [...]
London Report: GDP figures and housing prices reveal recovery October 20, 2013 GROSS domestic product (GDP) figures due on Friday are expected to reveal the UK’s solid recovery prospects, coupled with further good news from Nationwide and Rightmove housing figures earlier in the week. Analysts predict further improvement in the economy, with third quarter GDP expected to rise. “We expect GDP to rise 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter. [...]