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Wednesday's company news
- Created:
- 7 May 2008
- Written by:
- Tanya Malick
• Budget airline easyJet said half-year pre-tax losses widened after acquisition costs and soaring oil prices. (IC COMMENT)
• Shares in accounting, business and tax advisory group Vantis tumbled today as the company confirmed it is no longer in bid talks. (IC COMMENT)
• Profit improved during the first half at Anglo Irish Bank, which has maintained full-year guidance of 15% earnings per share growth. (IC COMMENT)
Continues below...
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• The year has started well for Rolls-Royce, the aeroengine giant confirmed today, with order intake in the first quarter close to $15bn.
• Irish airline Aer Lingus is to increase its long haul fuel surcharge on routes to the US due to the record high oil prices in recent weeks.
• A company developing non-stick chewing gum has successfully raised £10m to bring the product to market, with £800,000 coming from intellectual property firm IP Group.
• Power station operator International Power is offering a Euro-denominated 2015 senior convertible bond which is expected to generate proceeds of €500-€600m (£397-£476m).
• The year has started well for online gaming group 888, with net gaming revenue (NGR) up 38% and further growth at the beginning of the second quarter, driven mainly by casino and bingo.
• Estate agent Savills reports trading remains tough for its UK and US commercial, residential and mortgage broking businesses, with volumes down on the comparable period in 2007.
• Hotel giant InterContinental Hotels Group posted a decline in first quarter pre-tax profit but says it is well positioned for continued growth.
• Building materials firm CRH admitted today that the struggling dollar and weaker trends have made it "more challenging" to record full-year profit and earnings growth.
• A combination of tax changes and the impact of the smoking ban knocked Rank's revenue by 8% in the first four months of 2008, although the bingo and casino owner is encouraged by the performance.
• Defence firm BAE System said trading between January and May 2008 has been consistent with management expectations.
• Packaging firm Mondi said underlying profit since the year-end is ahead of the comparable period last year but added there is uncertainty over pricing and demand developments.
• British American Tobacco said the year has got off to a "great start" with profit growth seen in all regions.
• Today's first quarter results from property group Liberty International largely reflected last month's trading update, with adjusted net asset value (NAV) per share slipping to 1,181p.
• Engineer Weir said it is confident of achieving its targeted pre-tax profit figure thanks to growth in input and revenue in the first quarter.
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PRESS SUMMARY:
Aberdeen Asset Management is considering abandoning the UK as its headquarters for tax purposes as speculation mounts that a wave of British fund managers could head for the exit in frustration at Treasury tax changes, reports the Times.
WPP Group, the UK advertising giant, is considering making a hostile approach for Taylor Nelson Sofres as leading shareholders in the market research company demand that a £950m offer must be "substantially" improved. One leading shareholder told The Times: "Sorrell is going to have to offer a lot more. We would want substantially more - at least 300p per share."
In a note to clients, Tony Shiret, a retail analyst for Credit Suisse, said yesterday that Marks & Spencer's profits in two years' time could fall £250m below the near-£1bn expected to be reported this month for 2007-08. Shiret criticised M&S for moving too downmarket and urged the retailer to suspend its buyback programme, consider acquisitions and review whether its overseas expansion could succeed before rushing into an opening programme, reports the Times.
Crude oil prices could surge to $200 a barrel in the next two years, according to the Goldman Sachs analyst who three years ago correctly predicted a price "super-spike" above $100 a barrel. The warning by Arjun Murti came as oil prices hit a fresh high above $122 a barrel, boosted by supply disruptions in Nigeria, lower output in Russia and continued robust demand in China ahead of the Olympics, writes the FT
One of the most senior private bankers at UBS, the world's leading wealth manager, has been detained by authorities in the US investigating whether the Swiss bank helped its American clients evade tax. Martin Liechti, the Zurich-based head of North and South America for UBS's international wealth management business, was held in connection with a US justice department investigation into investment advice that UBS gave its American private banking clients between 2000 and 2007, says the FT.
The chairman and chief executive of the Financial Services Authority both criticised the Government yesterday for being slow in granting the City watchdog new powers to tackle market abuse, reports the Telegraph.
The Independent adds that the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority are engaged in a turf war over which regulator should decide when to take control of a failing bank, it emerged yesterday.
Lloyds TSB, the country's fourth largest mortgage lender, heaped new misery on homeowners yesterday after forecasting a 10% fall in house prices over two years. The forecast was made as the bank indicated it would not need to follow Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS in raising new capital, reports the Telegraph.
The board of France's EDF, which runs the country's nuclear power industry, is expected to meet today to finalise a possible takeover offer for British Energy ahead of Friday's deadline. According to several sources, there is unlikely "at this stage" to be a role for Centrica, the UK power company which is keen to be part of a bid consortium for BE, writes the Telegraph.
BAE Systems, the defence giant which has been dogged by corruption allegations, has admitted ethical failings in the conduct of its business, a report revealed yesterday. An independent inquiry chaired by the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, revealed that "both the chairman and the chief executive [of BAE], in discussions with us, acknowledge that the company did not in the past pay sufficient attention to ethical standards," writes the Independent.
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