PHS cleans up its debts with new ownership September 7, 2014 A MAJOR deal looks to be on the cards for PHS Group, the large UK hygiene and office services company, as it seeks to cut its massive debts of nearly £1bn in return for handing over ownership to a set of its lenders. PHS, which was founded in 1963, is now one of the largest [...]
Currency exchange group named Britain’s fastest-growing tech firm September 7, 2014 LMAX Exchange, the provider of an exchange-based currency trading platform, has been named Britain’s fastest-growing private technology company by Fast Track, after its annual sales rose 307.8 per cent over the past three years to £18.37m last year. The firm ranked fifteenth last year when Fast Track’s list of the 100 fastest-growing companies was published [...]
Property tech start-up bags £1.2m of funds September 7, 2014 BETFAIR co-founder Ed Wray and private equity veteran Jon Moulton are among a handful of investors to back a £1.25m investment into a new property investment website. Property Partner, the trading name of London House Exchange, has secured a new round of funding led by the venture capital arm Octopus Investments, in a bid to [...]
Need for tweed as Scots bag a weaving victory September 7, 2014 SCOTS going to the polls on 18 September voting aye or nay for independence will have many factors to weigh, but not, perhaps, the authenticity of tweed. Yet a new legal settlement unveiled today may change all that. The Harris Tweed Authority (HTA), the statutory body tasked with protecting the authenticity of Harris Tweed, has [...]
London hosting an ode to Jaguar September 7, 2014 Serenading a car? That’s what Jaguar has planned as part of its new XE model launch in London tonight. Emeli Sandé will sing a special composition for the new car, titled “Feel XE”. Music may be the food of love, but Jaguar also thinks it’s the fuel of motoring.
Alibaba is a moment of truth for US investors eyeing China – Bottom Line September 7, 2014 Alibaba’s long-awaited $200bn float looks set to be a game of two halves. On the one hand we have one of the largest technology floats of all time as the firm looks to raise $21bn from the public market. The float will prompt some of the highest legal fees of the last decade, and undoubtedly [...]
Low-paid staff saving more September 7, 2014 HALF of low-paid workers are now saving adequately for their retirement, according to Scottish Widows, as the auto-enrolment pensions scheme has pushed them into saving. Two years into the scheme, the proportion of low-paid workers saving enough – around nine per cent of an average income – has risen from 34 per cent to 50 [...]
City Moves for 08 September 2014 | Who’s switching jobs September 7, 2014 Standard Chartered Karin Flinspach has been appointed head of cash products, transaction banking at Standard Chartered. She has over 20 years’ experience in cash products, and was most recently head for payment and receivables for Europe, Middle, East and Africa at Citibank. Centrus Advisors The Treasury, corporate and project finance advisory firm has appointed Jonathan [...]
Best of the Brokers for 08 September 2014 September 7, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BP Investec has kept its “Hold” rating, but cut the target price to 440p from 460p. Investec thinks the market has moved quickly to factor in the likelihood of higher than expected fines as a result of the recent Deepwater Horizon ruling, but [...]
London Report: Retailer data to reveal strength of UK recovery September 7, 2014 THE NEWLY-MERGED Dixons Carphone will report its maiden quarterly results tomorrow in a week containing a flurry of updates for retailers. Figures for the company, whose merger only completed a month ago, will be keenly watched by investors, who will be hoping the firm’s planned synergies are starting to take effect. Other retailers due to [...]