Uni Baggage’s luxury travel service rescues wealthy students from transport woe September 1, 2014 The young plutocrats, Britain’s last persecuted minority, can find life at university hard – set upon by lefty lecturers, student unions and worst of all, their state-schooled peers. Not only are the children of the UK’s elite forced to share quarters with young people who may have only accessed their places through merit – [...]
Will Ecuador ditch the dollar for its own bitcoin? September 1, 2014 Ecuador is launching its first digital currency, backed by the country’s central bank, supposedly as a way to help poorer people who haven’t previously been able to access traditional banking. The nameless crypto-currency will come into use in December and could mean that the country might drop the US dollar – the currency Ecuador introduced [...]
Miner Nyrstar to raise €600m for global upgrade September 1, 2014 Leading global mining and smelting company Nyrstar said yesterday that it intends to raise €600m (£474m) as part of a strategic financing plan, as it looks to pay down debt and invest in improving infrastructure including smelting facilities. The €600m raised will be divided between a €350m senior unsecured note offer to institutional investors, and [...]
Heineken clinches Mexican can and bottle maker sale for $1.2bn September 1, 2014 Dutch brewer Heineken has agreed to sell its Mexican packaging business Empaque to Crown for $1.23bn (£739m) including debt, shedding a non-core business it acquired when entering the Mexican market in 2010. The world’s third-largest beer maker said yesterday the sale would allow it to focus resources on brewing and marketing its lagers, ales and [...]
Monitise’s information chief walks out after share price boom September 1, 2014 Mobile transactions firm Monitise yesterday announced the surprise departure of its information chief with immediate effect. Monitise, whose shares soared 13.2 per cent last Wednesday after the mobile banking and payments firm announced a deeper alliance with business giant IBM, said Mike Keyworth would remain a technology adviser to the firm. Shares fell 1.5 per [...]
Samsung merges shipbuilding and engineering in restructuring September 1, 2014 Samsung announced yesterday a major merger of its shipbuilding and engineering divisions, as the conglomerate pursues a restructuring of its business. Samsung, best known for its electronics division, was hit in May by the hospitalisation of Lee Kun-hee, the group’s chairman and patriarch of the billionaire Lee family behind Samsung, prompting succession considerations to rise. [...]
City Moves for 02 September 2014 | Who’s switching jobs September 1, 2014 Buck Consultants Celene Lee has been appointed senior investment consultant at the HR consultancy. She has 15 years’ experience advising companies and trustees on pension scheme investment and financing, and has previously held positions at PwC and Barrie & Hibbert. The Pensions Trust The workplace pension fund has appointed Mike Ramsey as chief executive. He [...]
Best of the Brokers for 02 September 2014 September 1, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com SPIRAX-SARCO ENGINEERING Numis has moved to “Hold” from “Add’, with the target price cut to 3,000p from 3,050p. The broker thinks first half results were solid, and remain positive in the long term case for Spirax, believing it to be a world leader [...]
London Report: FTSE climbs after talk of ITV takeover by Liberty Global September 1, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index inched up yesterday, led by gains in broadcaster ITV on talk of a takeover from Virgin Media owner Liberty Global. ITV’s shares hit their highest levels since January 2001, up 3.6 per cent. The speculation was fuelled by a report in The Telegraph saying Liberty was canvassing support from major ITV [...]
Europe Report: Europe gains on drug find September 1, 2014 EUROPEAN shares edged higher to close near a recent one-month peak yesterday, with Novartis leading drugmakers. Novartis, up 4.3 per cent, was the top gainer on the FTSEurofirst 300 index on news a new medicine from the company could replace drugs that have been central to treating heart disease for 25 years. The FTSEurofirst 300 [...]