Shares News

By Louise Heavens LONDON (Reuters) - The leading share index remained buoyant on Thursday, lifted by a rise in Rolls-Royce (RR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) after news it was tackling its pension deficit and further gains in mobile phone giant Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) on hopes it may soon sell its Verizon Wireless stake. By 10:43 a.m. the FTSE 100 share index was up 5.6 points at 6,006.4, slightly off an earlier rise to 6,021.5 but still recovering most of Wednesday's drop. ...

Clothing and home furnishings retailer Laura Ashley yesterday offered its first dividend in nine years after a 39 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits.The group said its strategy of slimming down fashion to focus on home products continued to pay off.The board's decision to pay a dividend of 0.5p a share "represents a major milestone in the recovery of the business", Laura Ashley said.The group ...

The group posted profits of £228,000 in the year to January 28 – against losses of £1.9m last time – and said the new financial period had started well with like-for-like sales growth of more than 10 per cent for both its brands.Much of the improvement came at Country Casuals, after the chain aimed at the 40-plus age range was rebranded CC and its products made more contemporary.Design and buyi ...

By Louise Heavens LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 remained buoyant on Thursday, lifted by a rise in Rolls-Royce after news it was tackling its pension deficit and further gains in Vodafone on hopes it may soon sell its Verizon Wireless stake. By 10:43 a.m. the FTSE 100 index was up 5.6 points at 6,006.4, slightly off an earlier rise to 6,021.5 but still recovering most of Wednesday's drop. But turnover was slim at around 350 million shares on the last day before the Easter break. Weakness i ...

By Gail Schiller LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - During the past four months, Apple iPods, Macs and other products have been featured 250 times on 38 different network primetime shows, including such hits as "CSI: NY" and "The O.C." That adds up to 26 minutes of free exposure for one of Hollywood's biggest brand stars, according to Nielsen's Place Views tracking service. With its c ...

By David Burrows LONDON (Reuters) - A fund manager's track record is the most important factor when independent financial advisers (IFAs) make investment decisions, in sharp contrast to private investors, according to research from investment house New Star. Individual investors selecting funds are largely unaware of the faces behind the funds and choose largely on the strength of brand, past pe ...

Jim Armitage, Evening Standard13 April 2006 TESCO has been picked as one of two finalists in the $2bn (£1.1bn) auction for French supermarkets group Carrefour's South Korean operations. OTHER STORIES Poor Easter in store for High St Fuel bill rise to continue Market report: Thursday 09.15 Rolls-Royce swings pensions axe Split focus is the new vision for WH Smith THE EDI ...

Tokyo shares recovered from earlier losses to close higher on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent to 17199.15 while the Topix average, hurt in the morning by a heavier financial services weighting, closed 0.1 per cent higher at 1743.77. // The main boost to the market in afternoon trading came from a UBS securities decision to upgrade its year-end target for the Topix avera ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - TiVo Inc. (TIVO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and satellite television operator DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday said they would extend their service and support agreement for three years, sending TiVo's shares up 8 percent. The extension removes the threat of TiVo losing close to 3 million customers when its contract with DirecTV expires in February 2007, a TiVo executive said. While DirecTV still will not be marketing TiVo, cus ...

By Eric Auchard SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. is introducing on Thursday a free Web calendar service for consumers to schedule events and share them with others, opening a new level of competition with rivals such as Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Google Calendar, available at www.google.com/calendar, offers a variety of features to make using Web calendars as easy as desktop c ...