News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Vodafone to develop PC back up

October 13, 2009

Vodafone Group said yesterday that it has formed a strategic partnership with Decho, a subsidiary of technology firm EMC, to offer its customers secure, offsite protection and access to their PC’s digital files over fixed and mobile broadband connections. Vodafone PC Backup means that users will be able to back up their computer to a [...]
PLUS surges 270 per cent

October 13, 2009

PLUS Markets Group announced a strong surge in reported flow for the third quarter of the year, with trading numbers up 270 per cent year-on-year. September was a strong month for volume, with PLUS reporting flow just shy of 10bn shares for the month, due to it being the first full month of reported flow [...]
Leahy slams education policy

October 13, 2009

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has launched an attack on the “woefully low” standards of the nation’s schools. Speaking at a grocery conference, Labour’s education adviser accused the government of interfering in schools and distracting teachers from their priority of passing knowledge to children. Tesco hires more school-leavers than any other UK business.
Obama has made American brands more popular

October 13, 2009

ACCORDING to the Nobel citation, President Obama deserved the Nobel Prize for Peace because of his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. Was it an absurd award, or a prescient one? Has Obama made America more popular? We have in the past used BrandIndex as a subliminal measure of America’s popularity [...]
Booker cuts debt pile as sales jump

October 13, 2009

BOOKER, the UK’s largest cash and carry business yesterday said its first-half profits had climbed by 12 per cent. The group, which runs over 170 branches supplying corner shops, grocers, and restaurants, said it made a pre-tax profit of £29.7m in the 24 weeks to 11 September, up from £26.5m the year before. Booker said [...]
JP Morgan traders lift its earnings

October 13, 2009

JP MORGAN Chase will today report third quarter earnings significantly above last year, as strong trading in its investment banking operations offsets rising loan losses. Analysts are expecting the bank to report quarterly earnings of $0.49 per share, well above the $0.11 per share seen in the same period of last year, due to a [...]
Cisco to buy Starent for $3bn to boost its presence in the mobile web space

October 13, 2009

CISCO Systems plans to buy wireless telecommunications equipment maker Starent Networks Corp for $2.9bn (£1.83bn), betting that demand for advanced wireless equipment will grow as more consumers download videos and access the web from mobile phones. In its second major acquisition this month, Cisco said it would pay $35 a share in cash for Starent, [...]
Berlin takes control of lender Hypo Real Estate

October 13, 2009

THE GERMAN government completed the nationalisation of stricken lender Hypo Real Estate yesterday, setting up a prolonged legal battle with minority shareholders, including US investment firm JC Flowers. A Munich court approved the squeezing out of minority shareholders, Hypo Real Estate said yesterday, which allowed for the German government’s rescue fund SoFFin to take control [...]
RYANAIR’S CHIEF O’LEARY PROVES HIMSELF A SUCKER FOR PUBLICITY

October 13, 2009

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary isn’t exactly renowned for taking criticism lying down, so the BBC’s Panorama programme will probably have seen yesterday’s tirade coming. After Monday evening’s programme on the airline, Ryanair unleashed a campaign to maximise publicity from the episode – offering 1.1m free flights, labelling the show a “hatchet job” and slamming 11 [...]
Connaught ups its dividend as profits increase

October 13, 2009

Support services group Connaught yesterday said that it had met expectations with a 39 per cent increase in full-year profit and that its expanding order book would provide good future earnings growth. Connaught, which provides property services to owners and occupiers of buildings, posted a pre-tax profit of £42.5m for the year to the end [...]