LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – British discount clothing
retailer Peacocks has called in administrator KPMG and is up for
sale after succumbing to falling sales and high debts.

Peacocks, which has 611 stores and 49 concessions across
Britain and employs around 9,600 people, has not closed any
stores or made any immediate redundancies, KPMG said in a
statement on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – Michael Page (MPI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is to go ahead with plans to enter more emerging markets where the British recruitment company sees long-term growth opportunities, it said when reporting growth slowed further in the fourth quarter.

Michael Page said Wednesday that, while being mindful of a tough global economy that has rapidly stunted growth levels over the course of 2011, it would open offices in three new countries, Columbia, Morocco and Taiwan, this year.

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Tough economic conditions
have hit the confidence of employers and jobseekers alike in
recent months, British recruitment company Hays said in
reporting a drop in business in its home market and a slowdown
in growth overseas.

Hays, which specialises in placing office workers such as
accountants, IT workers and secretaries, said on Tuesday net
fees — or gross profit — rose 8 percent in its second quarter
to end-December, down from 15 percent in the previous quarter.

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – British house builder
Persimmon expects underlying full-year pretax profit to
rise by half, helped by higher sales margins, and said it was
confident of further growth in 2012 as first time buyer interest
improves.

The largest UK housebuilder by market value said on Monday
tighter cost control and sales on higher margin land meant it
expects underlying operating margin for the year to be around 10
percent. Revenue for the year to Dec. 31 was 1.53 billion pounds
($2.36 billion).

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – British security firm G4S
has won a 200 million pounds ($313.28 million) contract
to run services such as IT, custody and training for
Lincolnshire Police Authority in a deal that could lead to
billions of pounds of work with other forces.

The 10-year deal with Lincolnshire, which runs from April
2012, is for the largest range of services ever offered in a
contract by any police authority in Britain.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Support services and
construction firm Carillion expects UK demand for
energy services and outsourcing, plus increased spending on
infrastructure overseas to drive its growth in 2012.

The firm, which maintains motorways, railways, military
bases and telephone lines, said on Wednesday that its pipeline
of contract opportunities had topped the 30 billion pound mark,
as large outsourcing deals at local authority level in Britain
and infrastructure spending in Canada and the Middle East pile
up.

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – British infrastructure firm
Mouchel got a lifeline from its banks, buying its new
management time to turn the lossmaking company around as
government spending cuts hit demand for its services.

Mouchel said on Wednesday it had avoided a breach of banking
terms by reaching a deal with its principal lenders for a new
129 million pound ($201 million) loan and credit facilities of
up to 51 million.

LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in house builders were boosted by Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to help 100,000 struggling young families buy newly built homes and provide a 400 million pound fund to help construction firms kick-start projects.

Osborne said Tuesday the government would take advantage of its borrowing costs being at a record low to provide a mortgage guarantee scheme to help first-time buyers who do not have the finances to put down deposits on homes.

LONDON (Reuters) – British home repair and insurance company HomeServe said profit this year and next would be hit by lower customer numbers and restructuring costs as it deals with the impact of mis-selling concerns.

Shares in Homeserve, which suspended telesales operations in October to review sale scripts, marketing mail, and customer complaints, were down 13 percent at 217.5 pence at 1000 GMT on Tuesday.

LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – British banknote printer De
La Rue said its first-half profit was boosted by a deal
to supply currency to South Sudan, the world’s newest nation,
and said regime-changes and the euro-zone crisis could fuel
further growth.

The world’s largest outsourced banknote printer, which
produces over 150 national currencies, on Tuesday said its
profit before tax and exceptional items rose 22 percent to 29
million pounds ($45.3 million) in the six months to Sept. 24.,
led by growth at its core currency production business.