Editor's Picks
Record year for Virgin Media
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Virgin Media has reported its best ever financial year, with a strong end to the year helping fourth quarter revenues top £1bn.
Sentance in fresh call for rate hikes
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Bank of England ratesetter Andrew Sentance has accused his colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of being “over optimistic” about the outlook for inflation.
Cotton surge continues after Australia crop worries
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Cotton prices hit $2 (£1.25) a pound for the first time ever today amid increasing demand from Chinese textile mills and production problems in Australia.
Cotton surge continues after Australia crop worries
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Cotton prices hit $2 (£1.25) a pound for the first time ever today amid increasing demand from Chinese textile mills and production problems in Australia.
Reed sees 'modest' growth in 2011
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Things improved at business and academic publisher Reed Elsevier during 2010 and a “gradual” recovery this year should deliver “modest” growth in 2011.
FUM at Rathbone top £15bn
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Total funds under management (FUM) exceeded £15bn for the first time ever at wealth management firm Rathbone Brothers last year.
BAE Systems earnings below par
Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Defence firm BAE Systems is expecting sales in 2011 to dip as cutbacks in government spending start to bite. The company saw sales edge up by 1.8% in 2010 to £22,392m from £21,990m in 2009. The market had pencilled in a figure of £22,548m for sales. Profit before tax from continuing operations was £1,027m, compared to a loss of £61m in 2009.
Hampson hit by defence cuts
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
International aerospace group Hampson Industries is unwanted after providing a disappointing update on second-half trading at its Texstars and Odyssey divisions.
King caution on rates boosts gilts
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
Gilts were in demand Wednesday after Bank of England governor sought to pour cold water on talk that rate rises could be on horizon.
Inflation to exceed estimates, BoE governor says
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
Inflation this year is likely to be ahead of the Bank of England’s previous estimates, but should start to fall back in 2012, the Bank’s governor Mervyn King said today as he presented its latest inflation report.
Youth unemployment nears 1m
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
The number of people claiming jobless benefit rose in January for the first time in four months as youth unemployment hit another record high. Another 2,400 people started claiming the dole last month, lifting the total to 1.46m. But it’s the kids that are suffering most. Youth unemployment rose 66,000 to 965,000, meaning 20.5% of 16-24-year-olds are now out of work
Morgan Crucible aims to double up by 2013
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
Engineering group Morgan Crucible has set itself a target of doubling underlying profits by 2013 after a strong performance in 2010.
Tullow has Mauritania miss
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
Tullow Oil has plugged and abandoned its Gharabi-1 well, located in Block 6 offshore Mauritania after poor drilling results.
Strong finish to 2010 at African Barrick
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
Gold miner African Barrick Gold put in a strong finish to 2010 pushing full year sales up to 724,083 ounces, an increase of 6% on 2009.
BG scores again In Brazil
Wednesday 16 Feb 2011
BG Group has announced yet another new discovery of oil in its highly prospective Santos Basin acreage, offshore Brazil. The latest strike, with a medium oil density of approximately 26˚ API, is in Block BM-S-10 in the Santos Basin. The discovery well, Macunaíma, is located in a water depth of 2134 metres, approximately 244 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State.
Barclays proves it's good with numbers
Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
Barclays has increased profits by an impressive 32% and cut bonuses for all its staff, keeping analysts, shareholders, politicians and a banker-bashing public happy. The lender, helped through the financial crisis with Middle East cash rather than taxpayer’s money, hit a five-month high as traders heard it had made £6.1m in 2010 compared with £4.6bn the year before. They’d only expected £5.5bn
Barclays tops £6bn as bonus payments fall
Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
Barclays cut its staff bonuses by 7% last year even though profits jumped by a better than expected 32% as bad charges tumbled everywhere except Spain.
Premier Foods getting to grips with debt
Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
Heavily indebted foods group Premier Foods took a break from selling off parts of its business to announce it fell into the red in 2010, though there was some good news on the debt reduction front.
Micro Focus warns as revenues stall
Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
Legacy software specialist Micro Focus has instigated a major cost cutting programme after revenues in the third quarter came in well short of expectations. Lower licence fee revenues affected both its Cobol and AMQ businesses, especially the latter. Adjusted EBITDA (underlying earnings) are below management expectations and below the average for the six months ended 31 October.
Pennon shrugs off Big Freeze
Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
Pennon has traded in line with expectations since October 1 and doesn’t expect December’s Big Freeze to have a material impact on results at either the water or waste businesses.
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