The Business Matrix: Saturday 21 May 2011

Ad campaign jacks up Halfords’ sales

The car parts and bike retailer Halfords said its recently acquired car repair business reported a stronger performance after it launched an advertising campaign. The company, which warned on profits last month, said like-for-like sales at its 240 Halfords Autocentres sites reversed falls to rise by 0.9 per cent in the 10 weeks to 9 May.

Royal wedding aids John Menzies

John Menzies said its distribution business, which delivers newspapers and magazines to shops, received a boost from the Royal wedding as a large number of people were keen to read about the event. Trading at its aviation arm, which handles the baggage at airports, saw revenues increase by 11 per cent in the four months to 30 April.

Food sales boost Mitchells & Butlers

Food sales at Mitchells & Butlers have overtaken drink sales for the first time thanks to a strong performance at its Harvester restaurants. The company said that it made an underlying pre-tax profit of £63m in the six months to 9 April, down by 14 per cent on the year, which reflected the sale of 333 pubs as it refocused its business on food.

Less power used but profit rises

Scottish & Southern Energy has reported a 1.7 per cent rise in annual profits to £1.3bn, despite a drop in power use among its 9.16 million customers. The company, which owns Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro, also warned that domestic customers could face more price rises to reflect increases in wholesale prices.

Bank holidays hit home loans

Mortgage lending fell 14 per cent in April as the two bank holiday weekends hit housing market activity. A total of £9.8bn was advanced during the month, down from £11.4bn in March but in line with the subdued levels seen during the first two months of the year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said yesterday.

Alliance Trust defeats rebels

Alliance Trust has seen off an attempt by rebel investor Laxey Partners to force the investment trust to buy back shares trading at a discount to net asset value of 10 per cent or more. But the vote to introduce a discount control mechanism, at its annual meeting, saw 33.4 per cent of investors voting for Laxey’s proposal.

Minerva in talks with bidders

Minerva has admitted it is in advanced talks with a number of potential bidders, amid reports that Leon Black’s private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Orion Capital Managers, and Delancey together with Area Property Partners have bid between 100p to 110p per share for the property developer.

PE firms target Micro Focus

Shares in Micro Focus jumped 8 per cent after it received approaches from two private equity firms. The FTSE 250-listed mainframe specialist, whose clients include Tesco and Boeing, said it was exploring several approaches, including ones from Bain Capital and Advent International of the US.

Greek debt costs soar to new highs

Greece’s cost of borrowing hit new highs yesterday as the International Monetary Fund called on Europe to stump up more money to convince the markets it was fully behind struggling members, but the European Central Bank warned that Greece could not rely on more support if it failed to stick to austerity plans.

Osborne blasts EU banking rules

The Chancellor has attacked the European Union’s new bank capital and liquidity rules. George Osborne was one of seven European finance ministers to sign a letter to the European Commission saying its proposals could dilute tough new banking rules, known as Basel III and prevent states setting higher standards.