As Blackpool’s donkeys are embedded with Barclaycard contactless swipers, are they being taken for a ride? August 21, 2014 Are the donkeys of Blackpool beach being exploited by big business? Yesterday, the noble steeds hit the headlines because Barclaycard was helping the donkey business to go cashless. Yes, no more do Real Donkeys have to fiddle with change – the donkeys’ saddles have Barclaycard contactless swipers embedded. A novel idea or a publicity stunt? [...]
City workers get grubby paws at Pestaurant with bbq mealworms and roasted locusts August 21, 2014 Pest control experts Rentokil put on a real smorgasbord for City workers at One New Change yesterday. For those adventurous enough, the Pestaurant (see what they did there?) was serving up free pigeon burgers, crispy bbq mealworms, plain roasted locusts and ant lollipops. The Capitalist can confirm, locusts really repeat on you.
Endless Capital set to buy office2office August 21, 2014 PRIVATE equity group Endless Capital yesterday agreed to buy listed stationary-to-furniture office supplier office2office through a newly-created company called EVO Business Supplies. The Norwich-based company, which listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, is a major provider of business supplies and outsourced business solutions, primarily to large private and public sector customers. [...]
Primary Healthcare Properties hits £1bn August 21, 2014 PRIMARY Healthcare Properties’ (PHP) acquisition spree over the first half of the year has helped its property portfolio reach £1bn for the first time. The company, which develops and invests in new medical practices across the UK, said yesterday that its portfolio had increased by 4.3 per cent since December 2013, after adding a further [...]
Interserve signs up to Shanks Derby deal August 21, 2014 CONSTRUCTION firm Interserve yesterday announced that its joint venture with waste management company Shanks Group had won a contract to build and operate a new waste treatment facility in Derby. The companies yesterday signed a 27-year, £950m Public Private Partnership contract with Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils. The project involves Interserve building a £145m [...]
Ebay share price jumps as online retailer mulls PayPal spinoff August 21, 2014 Ebay is reportedly considering a spinoff of PayPal, its fast-growing online payments division, as early as next year. Shares of the online retailer jumped 4.6 per cent yesterday to $55.89 in New York. Ebay told its potential candidates for the position of PayPal chief executive, a post that former boss David Marcus left in June, [...]
Divergence looms for Eurozone and US in Jackson Hole speeches August 21, 2014 WORLD-famous economists arrived at Jackson Hole yesterday, as the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual conference on monetary policy begins. Speeches today will come from Fed chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi, the world’s two most important monetary policymakers. Analysts suspect that the speeches will display an emerging division between the [...]
Chinese industry signals slower growth as prices begin to drop August 21, 2014 CHINA’S manufacturing sector weakened to a three-month low this month, falling back towards negative territory after a more promising start to the summer. According to HSBC’s survey of the country’s dominant industrial base, released yesterday, manufacturers grew more slowly in August. The bank’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) figure dropped back to 50.3, barely above the [...]
Record order book at £3.2bn cheers Costain August 21, 2014 COSTAIN group, the major UK construction and engineering group, announced yesterday it had achieved a record order book and solid growth in underlying profits, as it shifted its focus with more major contracts in the rail and oil and gas sectors. The forward order book for the company zoomed up to £3.2bn in the first [...]
City Moves for 22 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 21, 2014 RBC Global Asset Management The asset management arm of Royal Bank of Canada has appointed Clive Brown as chief executive and managing director of RBC Global Asset Management International. He joins from JP Morgan Asset Management, where he was global chief operating officer and chairman of Asia. Brown has also previously worked as chief executive [...]