Thursday evening business bulletin
Guinness-to-Smirnoff drinks firm Diageo has cooled celebrations over £2bn profits by warning that growth may be weaker in the current year.
Headline annual profits of £2.09bn were broadly in line with a year ago, while at an operating level the figure was 9% higher than a year earlier.
However, chief executive Paul Walsh warned the economic hangover could see growth in underlying profits fall to 7% during the current year.
He added the strength and diversity of Diageo’s business, particularly in faster-growing emerging markets, helped insulate it in tougher times.
Scottish television group SMG has shrugged off the tough advertising markets plaguing the media sector and said it is on track to hit full-year targets.
The company’s STV channel, which has four million viewers every week, saw strong growth in regional advertising offset weak national sales as it pushed operating profits up 26% to £4.9m.
SMG has sold businesses such as Virgin Radio this year to focus on the television business and reduce debts. It also delivered £5m in cost savings during the first half of the year.
The group’s production business includes long-running detective series Taggart - now in its 25th year - cop show Rebus, and Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie, which is made by Ginger Productions.
Liverpool Victoria has bolstered its general insurance arm with a £150m takeover deal for the owner of insurance broker Hero.
The proposed acquisition of Highway Insurance will accelerate LV’s growth plans after a number of other deals by the society in the past decade.
It currently insures more than 650,000 cars and 430,000 households in the UK, while also underwriting insurance for a number of partners including the Royal College of Nursing, Unison and Haymarket Publishing.
Highway is split into two divisions, with Hero now one of the UK’s top 10 personal insurance intermediaries with nearly 265,000 policies. It has 400 staff and sources products through more than 30 major UK insurers.
The pound at 5pm was 1.8266 dollars compared to 1.8306 dollars at the previous close.
The euro at 5pm was 0.8038 pounds compared to 0.8018 pounds at the previous close.
The FTSE-100 index at the close was up 73.1 at 5601.2.
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