Aldi and Lidl to grab more sales from supermarket stores June 30, 2014 The amount of money spent at Britain’s larger supermarket stores is set to shrink over the next five years, new figures show, as competition from discounters, convenience stores and online gathers pace. According to research released yesterday by the industry body IGD, the value of the UK grocery market is set to rise by 16 [...]
Merlin to open Legoland in Japan June 30, 2014 MERLIN Entertainments, owner of Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds, announced yesterday it planned to tap into the world’s second-largest theme park market by building a £185m Legoland site in Japan. The company, which floated last year, said it would invest £53m of cash into the Nagoya theme park. The remainder will be funded by Kirkbi, [...]
Abcam chair stands down June 30, 2014 MIKE Redmond, the chairman of global biotechnology company Abcam, will step down from the board after the company’s annual general meeting later this year, the firm announced yesterday. Abcam, which was founded in 1998 and is a producer and distributor of high quality innovative protein research tools, has a catalogue of more than 130,000 products [...]
EasyHotel rises on Aim launch June 30, 2014 INVESTORS snapped up shares in easyHotel on its first day of trading yesterday, despite the company raising just half of the £60m it had hoped to gain in its Aim listing. Shares in easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s budget hotel chain rose 9.4 per cent above their initial offer price of 80p to 87.5p, valuing [...]
London prime rents improve June 30, 2014 RENTS in London’s prime postcodes rose 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year after a two-and-a-half-year decline, as a recovery in the lettings market began to gather pace. The capital ranked at the bottom of Knight Frank’s Price Global Rental Index, in 18th place, after rents declined by two per cent [...]
Law firm Clifford Chance sees revenues lift to £1.36bn June 30, 2014 Law giant Clifford Chance recorded a boost in revenue and profits during the last financial year, with a particularly strong performance in the Asia-Pacific region. Revenues swelled to £1.36bn, rising seven per cent in the year to April and the highest the group has ever seen. Profit per equity partner saw a more significant jump, [...]
Philips to merge automotive and LED lighting into one unit June 30, 2014 DUTCH electronics giant Philips said yesterday it would start the process of merging its Lumileds or LED components and automotive lighting businesses into a stand-alone subsidiary within the group. The Amsterdam-based company plans to remain a shareholder of the new company, and would continue the existing innovation collaboration. It would also explore alternatives to attract [...]
Institute of Directors’ summer party an alternative to Cool Britannia June 30, 2014 It was a remarkably wintery night at for the Institute of Directors’ summer party on the Parliament Terrace Pavilion yesterday evening but it certainly did not stop play. Attendees may not have been at David Cameron’s Cool Britannia party, but the aforementioned event didn’t go without a nod. “David Cameron is busy hosting a party [...]
Amlin’s Formula-E race car partnership puts pedal to the metal June 30, 2014 Lloyd’s-based reinsurance company Amlin gave lunching City-ites something to gawk at yesterday with the unveiling of its new sponsorship target, a Formula-E race car and British race-driver Katherine Legge. What the bejeezus is Formula-E? It’s like your bog standard Formula One except the cars are electric rather than gas guzzling. They also race internationally, [...]
Scotland holds modest shale gas resources June 30, 2014 The Midland Valley in central Scotland has a “modest” amount of shale gas and oil compared to the north of England, according to a new report published yesterday. The British Geological Survey (BGS) estimates that the region is likely to hold around 80 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of shale gas and 6bn barrels of shale [...]