Abramovich ups Velocys stake June 19, 2014 Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, has increased his stake in synthetic fuel producer Velocys from 3.5 to 7.7 per cent. The stake is now worth nearly £20m. Abramovich’s Ervington Investments had invested £5m in the Aim-listed company in January 2014. Velocys, formally known as Oxford Catalysts, provides modular technology for [...]
WPP makes new Vietnam move June 19, 2014 WPP, the world’s largest advertising group by revenue, yesterday said it will acquire digital creative agency Sofresh in what is the company’s third Vietnamese based acquisition this year. Sofresh was founded in 2007 by Ly Viet Vu and Justin Cohen and reported 2013 revenues of close to £1m. It currently employs 85 people. WPP will [...]
TLA Worldwide turns to football June 19, 2014 Aim-listed sports agent TLA Worldwide appears to have caught football fever from the World Cup, announcing its first foray into the sport. From 2015, the International Champions Cup, a pre-season tournament that this year features both Manchester giants and Liverpool, will take place in the Asia Pacific region. So far, the competition has taken place in the [...]
Best of the Brokers for 20 June 2014 June 19, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT Panmure Gordon has maintained its “buy” rating for Liontrust, keeping the target price at 336p. The broker believes that with profits marginally ahead of expectations for the last financial year and an outlook for more growth in profits this year, [...]
London Report: Rolls rally lifts market closer to record high June 19, 2014 Arally by aircraft engine-maker Rolls-Royce and the US Federal Reserve’s reassurance over monetary policy yesterday pushed the FTSE 100 up to trade just below a record high. The London market ended the day 0.4 per cent higher at 6,808.11 points, not far from a record 6,950.60 set in 1999. Rolls-Royce surged 8.1 per cent to [...]
New York Report: S&P hits new heights due to Fed optimism June 19, 2014 THE S&P 500 ended on a record high yesterday, extending gains for a fifth day on investors’ optimism that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates low for a long period of time. While the The S&P 500 gained 2.50 points or 0.13 per cent, to close at 1,959.48, the Dow Jones industrial average eked [...]
Twitter to buy video sharing site SnappyTV June 19, 2014 Twitter is extending its drive into video today after it announced the acquisition of SnappyTV, a video sharing website. The social media network has already started to embrace video with its Amplify programme, which allows sponsored video excerpts of televised content to be easily viewed on mobile. SnappyTV, which allows users to edit and share video [...]
Optimism about London’s economy grows – and east is where it’s at June 19, 2014 Optimism about London's economic growth remains high, according to a business survey by CBI and KPMG. Although a slight decline from last year's 70 per cent, it showed that 65 per cent of businesses are currently positive about the future of the economy, with 79 per cent rating London as a good, or very good, [...]
Ecigarettes are not a gateway to smoking – study June 19, 2014 Electronic cigarettes are not a gateway to regular tobacco products, so suggests the largest study ever conducted on ecigarette use in Europe, which was published in the Journal of Tobacco Studies. Advocates of ecigarettes have pointed to the study as an answer, in part, to the criticism that the burgeoning industry could be lead non [...]
In pictures: Harley Davidson to release its first electric motorcycle June 19, 2014 It is an image born from American motoring folklore: a leather-clad and bearded rider heading off into the sunset on the back of a brutally loud motorbike. Now Harley Davidson is shunning tradition and unleashing an electric motorbike, raising the prospect of Hell's Angels hellbent on saving the environment. The video shows a sleek, modern [...]