UPDATE 1-William Hill says World Cup offset weak Ascot

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) – British bookmaker William Hill (WMH.L) said first half earnings would be fractionally higher on the year before with the soccer World Cup offsetting the company’s worst ever results from horseracing at Royal Ascot.

William Hill, which has around 2,300 betting shops in Britain and Ireland, said it expected earnings before interest, tax and amortisation to be around 135 million pounds ($206 million) in the first half, compared with 134.6 million the year before.

The company said its over-the-counter retail business had seen a very strong World Cup performance in June but also saw poor horseracing results in the second quarter as a whole, with a relatively weak Grand National in April followed by a loss-making Royal Ascot festival.

“Whilst it was our worst ever Royal Ascot, with a loss on the meeting, the World Cup proved to be one of the best for bookmakers in 40 years,” Chief Executive Ralph Topping said on Tuesday.

The company added that William Hill Online had a strong performance in the half year with total online net revenue growth of about 24 percent and operating profit about 43 percent higher than in the prior year.

Shares in the company closed on Tuesday at 178.9 pence, valuing the business at 1.27 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Lorraine Turner)

($1=.6541 Pound)

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UPDATE 1-Northern Foods Q1 hit by contract withdrawals

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) – British food manufacturer Northern Foods (NFDS.L) said sales fell in the first quarter of its fiscal year reflecting its decision to pull out of low margin contracts.

The company, which makes own-label products for retailers as diverse as premium food seller Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) and discounter Aldi, said on Tuesday comparable sales were down 1.6 percent in the quarter to July 3 compared with the year before.

Northern Foods, which is Britain’s biggest seller of Christmas puddings and supplies food to British Airways (BAY.L), stopped making Birds Eye frozen pies in June last year and closed a ready meals factory in Swansea in April this year after failing to agree a contract with J Sainsbury (SBRY.L).

The company, which also makes Goodfella’s pizza and Fox’s biscuits, said it expected trading conditions to remain challenging but is continuing to invest in its brands and technology in order to drive future earnings growth.

Shares in Northern Foods closed on Monday at 46.75 pence, valuing the business at 216 million pounds ($324 million). They have underperformed the UK food producers’ index .FTASX3570 by about 29 percent since the start of the year.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Lorraine Turner)

($1=.6676 Pound)

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UPDATE 1-M&B appoints Interserve’s Tim Jones in FD rejig

June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) – British pubs and restaurant group Mitchells & Butler (MAB.L) has appointed Interserve’s (IRV.L) Tim Jones as finance director replacing Jeremy Townsend, who is joining Rentokil (RTO.L) as CFO at the end of August.

Meanwhile Interserve said Tim Jones, who has tendered his resignation to take up the role at M&B, will remain at Interserve “for an appropriate period” to ensure a smooth handover.

Interserve added it will be looking at both external and internal candidates.

(Reporting by Lorraine Turner)

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UDATE 1-Cattles in talks over 1p/share offer for s’holders

June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – Stricken doorstep lender Cattles (CTT.L) said shareholders won’t receive any more than 1 pence per share from a possible restructuring following further discussions with its creditors.

The company said on Wednesday that it was exploring “a proposal under which a newly incorporated company, formed and managed by a corporate service provider and ultimately owned by a charitable trust, would make an offer to acquire the entire issued share capital of Cattles”.

Cattles said shareholders should not, however, expect over 1 pence per share from any deal given the existing deficit in shareholders’ funds and the significant losses that its financial creditors will incur.

The Yorkshire-based company has been in talks with the representatives of its key financial creditors for some time after being forced to close its doors to new customers last year. Any proposals will need to get shareholder approval.

Shares in Cattles were suspended in April last year after accounting errors related to toxic loan provision left it saddled with 700 million pounds ($1.2 billion) of bad debts, resulting in the dismissal of senior executives and an FSA investigation. [ID:nLC382766]

Earlier this month Cattles reported a larger than expected 745 million pound pretax loss for 2008.

(Reporting by Lorraine Turner; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

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