Business News

Diageo cuts growth target on slowdown
Diageo <DGE.L>, the world's biggest alcoholic drinks group, met forecasts on Thursday with an 11 percent rise in annual earnings, but cut its profit growth target due to the economic slowdown and rising input costs. House prices in biggest annual fall since 1991
House prices fell almost two percent on the month in August to post their biggest annual drop since monthly records began in 1991, the Nationwide building society said on Thursday. Kazakhmys wants ENRC talks as profits fall
Kazakh miner Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> posted a 21 percent fall in first-half profit on Thursday, hitting its shares, and said it wanted talks with rival ENRC <ENRC.L> about possible synergies. IMI posts profit and sees more progress
Engineer IMI <IMI.L> posted a 35 percent rise in first half profit on Thursday and said it expected further progress during the rest of the year, although it might continue to see some areas of weakness. AMEC ups margin targets as pretax jumps
Oil, gas and mining engineer AMEC reported on Thursday an 87 percent jump in first-half pretax profit, raising its margin targets for the second time in as many months on continued strength in its markets. Debt worries overshadow Premier Foods profit rise
Premier Foods <PFD.L>, the nation's biggest food manufacturer, reported a 4 percent rise in first-half pretax profit in line with expectations on Thursday but its shares fell on renewed concerns over its debt levels. Computacenter shares down as profit falls
(Reuters) - Computacenter <CCC.L> said its first-half pretax profit fell 14.2 percent hurt partially by a weak start in its UK and France business and an interest charge related to its share repurchases, sending its shares down nearly 13 percent in early trade. Aegis beats forecasts but outlook less certain
Marketing group Aegis <AEGS.L> expects its results this year to be at the top end of market forecasts, it said on Thursday, after comfortably beating expectations in the first half thanks to its digital business, emerging markets and cost efficiencies. Hunting's profit rises 11 pct on high oil prices
Oil services company Hunting <HTG.L> said on Thursday half-year profit from continuing operations rose 11 percent to 23.9 million sterling . FTSE seen opening 6-11 points higher
The FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> is seen opening 6-11 points higher on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, having closed up 57.4 points, or 1.1 percent at 5,528.1 in the previous session.