News

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

Profits hit at Grainger but sales improve

October 6, 2009

PROPERTY company Grainger said yesterday sales in the year to end-September had risen by 21.6 per cent, but trading profit would be hit by lower house prices and more sales to investors. The group, which is Britain’s largest quoted residential landlord, sold about £220m of property in the 12 months, with sales from its core [...]
Boeing delays its 747-8 freight plane

October 6, 2009

BOEING, which is reeling from the troubled 787 Dreamliner programme, said yesterday it would delay the first flight and delivery of its 747-8 Freighter and take a $1bn (£628m) charge because of high production costs and tough market conditions. The delay – the second announced this year for the new generation of the jumbo aircraft [...]
EasyJet passenger numbers take off

October 6, 2009

EASYJET, the budget airline founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, carried 5.3 per cent more passengers last month than in the same period last year, in the latest piece of data to show budget air travel demand taking off. The orange-crested carrier carried 4.42m passengers in September, up from 4.19m in 2008, and said its load [...]
Accounting firms facing ban on sale of products to audit clients

October 6, 2009

SOME of the City’s biggest accounting firms are facing restrictions on the services they can sell to audit clients, after the financial reporting watchdog launched a review of rules designed to maintain auditor independence. The Auditing Practices Board (APB), a division of the Financial Reporting Council, said it would review whether the sale of non-audit [...]
Mazda fundraising for green cars

October 6, 2009

Japanese carmaker Mazda is planning to raise Y96bn (£680m) in a share sale to fund development of hybrid vehicles, as it tries to catch up with “greener” competitors like Toyota and Honda. It said it would offer 363m new shares to investors, equivalent to one-quarter of its outstanding stock, and sell an additional 97m existing [...]
YUM TAKESBITEOUTOFCHINA

October 6, 2009

YUM Brands, parent of the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC chains, posted a quarterly profit that blew past Wall Street’s target, boosted by results from China, and raised its full-year profit forecast. Overall operating profit was up 15 per cent for the third quarter, driven by 32 per cent growth in China.
Iata against airline accusations

October 6, 2009

The International Air Transport Association has (Iata) urged governments against using taxes on airlines as a quick-fix solution to cutting emissions. It said the industry was wrongly charged by environmentalists as the “bogeyman of climate change” and viewed by policymakers as a “cash-cow for much-needed revenue” to cope with the downturn.
BNP Paribas launches new fund

October 6, 2009

BNP Paribas Real Estate said yesterday it plans to launch a UK commercial property fund for institutional investors and is seeking £150m of commitments for it by end-2009. The property adviser, a BNP Paribas unit, said the closed-ended, five-year fund would be geared up to 50 percent and invested in a diversified portfolio of commercial [...]
Northern Foods sales slow down

October 6, 2009

Northern Foods yesterday reported slowing sales growth, but said its recent Fox Biscuits marketing campaign had helped to off-set falling sales in its ready meal business. The group announced a 2.9 per cent increase in underlying sales in the six months to 26 September, a slowdown from the 5.5 percent growth seen in the first [...]
DUNSTONE ALL SET FOR UPCOMING NUPTIALS

October 5, 2009

FORGET Simon Cowell’s star-studded 50th birthday bash – this weekend will see the party of the City’s year when Carphone Warehouse tycoon Charles Dunstone finally ties the knot with PR executive Celia Gordon Shute. Dunstone – who recently enjoyed an impressive motoring-themed stag do split between the Goodwood estate and on the Isle of Wight [...]