Legal & General raises dividend with profits boost March 23, 2010 INSURER Legal & General reported forecast-beating profit and has increased its dividend. L&G, the country’s sixth-biggest insurer by market value, said it had a 2009 operating profit of £1.3bn, ahead of the £1.1bn predicted by analysts. The figures were helped by a £69m cost-cutting programme, with a cull of 17 per cent of the workforce. [...]
Halfords eyes acquisitions after sales rise March 23, 2010 HALFORDS expects to beat full-year profit forecasts after a surge in by demand for car parts during recent bad weather and its acquisition of Nationwide Autocentres. The company said its pre-tax profit for the year ending in March would be around £116m – above analysts forecasts of £112.7m. Sales at shops in the UK and [...]
A third of BA flights cancelled on strike day three March 22, 2010 MORE than a third of British Airways flights at the UK’s major airports were cancelled on day three of strike action by cabin crew, according to BA’s website. The airline said 200 of the 563 of the flights due to take off or land at 11 airports had been scrapped. Unite, the union who called [...]
Wolseley warning over economy as profits dip March 22, 2010 HOUSE buildings supplier Wolseley warned that the economic environment remained volatile, as it posted a sharp drop in half-yearly trading profit. The FTSE 100 group’s trading profit slipped 33.5 per cent to £167m in the six months ended 31 January 2010, compared with £251m in the same period of the previous year. First-half revenue was [...]
Arrow Energy accepts Shell bid March 22, 2010 ARROW Energy has agreed to sell its Australian coal-seam gas assets to Shell PetroChina for an improved offer of $3.1bn (£2.8bn). The revised takeover offer, which needs approval from Australian regulators and Arrow shareholders, is up from $2.96bn. Under the deal, Arrow will spin off its assets outside Australia – including interests in China, India, [...]
ICAP to cut jobs in cash equities cull March 22, 2010 ICAP – the world’s biggest interdealer broker – said it would scale back its full-service cash equities business in Europe and Asia at the cost of £51m and up to 114 jobs. Conservative party co-treasurer Michael Spencer runs the firm which issued a profit warning last month. A total of 114 traders and analysts will [...]
Obama healthcare bill passed March 22, 2010 The US House of Representatives has voted in favour of Barack Obama’s healthcare reform bill by a slim margin. The bill was passed by 219 votes to 212, after a fiery debate. It extends state-aided healthcare coverage to 32m more Americans and is a flagship policy for the US president. Obama said: “We proved that [...]
EU wants bank fund to pay for future collapses March 19, 2010 THE European Union is considering making banks pay for an emergency wind-up fund in case one of them goes bust, in an attempt to avert another Lehman-style crisis. Michael Barnier, the man in charge of new European financial regulation, told a conference of financial watchdogs in Brussels that the banks should foot the bill for [...]
BA strike to go ahead after talks crash March 19, 2010 A STRIKE by British Airways cabin crew will go ahead after last ditch talks between the airline and the Unite union failed. The first three-day strike by 12,000 cabin crew begins on Saturday, with a four-day walkout planned from 27 March. Unite’s joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: “BA does not want to negotiate and [...]
Rail union votes for strike March 19, 2010 RAILWAY signal workers have voted to go on strike in action which threatens to throw easter travel plans into chaos. The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said 54 per cent of its members had backed strike action over redundancies. A spokesman for the RMT leader Bob Crow is still willing to negotiate with Network [...]
