■ FTSE 250 house builder Bovis Homes says it expects pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 December 2011 to be in line with market consensus and says that it is well positioned to improve returns further in 2012 and beyond.
■ The AIM-listing of football club Tottenham Hotspur was cancelled this morning after the decision by the controlling shareholder to take the company private.
■ Carnival, the FTSE 100 company which owns the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship which grounded off the coast of Italy at the weekend, says the cost of not having the boat in service will be between $85m and $95m.
■ Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty has been awarded several construction contracts in the commercial sector worth £100m.
■ Milk producer Robert Wiseman Dairies said turnover and trading for the last fifteen weeks has been in line with expectations, bolstered by increased volumes at the Co-operative and Tesco. It has also agreed to a cash offer from European dairy giant Müller.
■ Commodity risk management software provider Brady expects to achieve 2011 revenue growth of approximately 70 per cent, ahead of market forecasts (IC COMMENT).
■ Phoenix Group, the insurance consolidation company, says it is still in talks with buyout specialists CVC Capital Partners over a possible offer.
■ Construction services company Interior Services warned group profits for the year to 30 June 2012 will now be below expectations after a further deterioration in UK trading conditions, particularly among food retail and retail banking sectors.
■ Exillon Energy said the group's average daily production reached 11,055 barrels for the month of December, up from November's 10,935 barrels a day.
■ AIM-listed bioscience firm Abcam is on track to meet profit forecasts for the full-year after first-half revenues rose by 13.5 per cent in the six months to December 2011.
■ Beowulf Mining, the Sweden-focused mineral explorer, says drilling at its Kallak North and Kallak South sites may be delayed until May this year after objections from the local Saami community.
■ Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury is coping with life after the finish of the wildly successful teen-aged wizard series, with demand for its electronic books (ebooks) growing especially fast.
■ Stamp and collectibles trader Stanley Gibbons collected lots of cash in 2011, leaving it well placed to fund future growth opportunities.
■ Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks to sell its cash equity and mergers and acquisitions business in the Middle East as part of a global restructuring at the UK lender, two sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters is reporting.
■ Hydrodec, the "clean" oil re-refining group, has shot up this morning after announcing revenues for 2011 will come in significantly ahead of 2010.
■ British banking giant Lloyds has injected €80m into its Spanish subsidiary in order to strengthen its solvency, reports Spanish daily Cinco Dias.
■ Rockhopper Exploration, the Falkland Islands focused oil and gas company, has risen this morning on rumours of a possible takeover by Cairn Energy.
■ Motive Television says its patented 'Television Anytime' technology has now received 300,000 subscribers with Italian firm Mediaset.
■ Cloud-based video platform developer Forbidden Technologies said its visible sales pipeline for 2012 is looking fatter, even after a strong year of organic growth in 2011.
■ Speciality pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma has this morning announced its pre-close trading update for the year ended on the 31st of December of 2011.
■ Business supplies group office2office kept its trading update short and sweet, saying it expects to meet the management's lowered expectations, as laid out in its October interim management statement.
■ German energy firm E.ON is to cut its standard electricity prices in the UK in a move which it says will trim 31 quid from the typical householder's annual bill.
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Business press headlines courtesy of Weekend City Press Review:
France and Austria downgraded
Standard & Poor's reignited the eurozone debt crisis by downgrading the Triple-A ratings of France and Austria, with downgrades also for seven other eurozone members including Italy and Spain. The news had been anticipated following a warning by S&P in December, although it raises doubts over the re-election of President Sarkozy in France's presidential elections this year. In its lead editorial, the FT said the downgrade may 'not make all that much of a difference' but would serve as a wake-up call for eurozone leaders to end the crisis that continues to drag on.[Financial Times pp.1, 5, 10]
JPMorgan suffers 23 per cent drop in fourth-quarter income
JPMorgan Chase launched the Wall Street reporting season by disclosing a 23 per cent fall in Q4 net income, described as 'modestly disappointing' by CEO Jamie Dimon. The figures, which saw the shares close 2.5 per cent lower, are expected to be followed this week by downbeat results from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other trading-focused banks.[Financial Times p.13]
Greece heads for March default
Greece could default on its debts in March when a Eu14.4bn bond is due to be repaid, analysts believe. The new threat comes as talks to reduce the country's debts broke down on Friday, with sources suggesting that unless a deal could be salvaged within days a default was 'inevitable'. Meanwhile, more information is emerging about the role of Goldman Sachs in helping Greece hide its debts in order to remain within the euro.[Sunday Times pp.3.1, 3.5]
Barclays boss in line for £10m bonus payout
Barclays CEO Bob Diamond could receive a bonus of £10m this year, adding to public and government anger over such pay awards. The Chancellor is particularly under pressure to take a tough line with state- controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, which could pay CEO Stephen Hester a bonus of more than £1m as part of a total bonus pool of £500m.[Sunday Times p.3.1]
Cairn eyes Falklands
Cairn Energy is in talks with Rockhopper Exploration over becoming involved in exploring for oil off the Falkland Islands. Rockhopper is the only company to have made a commercial discovery so far, although it has neither the financial nor technical expertise to exploit its findings.[Sunday Times p.3.1]
Tesco splashes £400m to perk up stores
Tesco is planning to spend £400m this year 'reconnecting' to its customers by renovating stores and hiring more staff to reduce queues. The move comes after the surprise profits warning last week in the wake of poor Christmas trading.[Sunday Times pp.3.2, 3.7]
Peacocks on the brink of administration
Budget retailer Peacocks could go into administration as early as Monday after talks with its banks about a restructuring stalled over the weekend. Although the retailer is still expected to sell its Bonmarché stores early this week, the key issue is whether its bank will agree a reduction in the debt owed to enable the business as a whole to survive.[Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
UK faces Volcker rule clash
The Treasury has made clear to US regulators its concern that the so-called Volcker rule banning proprietary trading by the banks could lead to reduced liquidity in the international bond markets. A report by Barclays Capital warns that US banks could pull out of the European bond markets as a result of the new rule, with Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn describing it as being potentially 'calamitous'.[Sunday Telegraph pp.B1, B6-7]
Troubled eurozone 'paralysed UK growth'
The UK economy has become 'paralysed' by the ongoing eurozone crisis, warns Ernst & Young in its latest Item Club forecast. It believes the economy will slide back into recession in the first half and it will not be until the summer that there are signs of improvement. Meanwhile, the European Financial Stability Fund is likely be the next player in the eurozone crisis to face a downgrade of its credit rating.[Sunday Telegraph pp.B1, B3]
Gaming giant looks to float payments arm
Bwin.Party is planning to float its payments division CQR as the first step to selling off non-core assets following the merger last year of Party Gaming and Bwin. As part of the strategy, headhunters Odgers Berndtson has been appointed to find a CEO to take the business through to an eventual IPO.[Sunday Telegraph p.B2]
