VEC lands third British ecigarette company as industry booms June 9, 2014 US Victory Electronic Cigarettes (VEC) has acquired its third British ecigarette company in six months for $104m (£62m). Ten Motives, one of the largest and fastest growing ecigarette companies in Europe, was founded in 2008 by former telecoms Art Devlin. Ten Motives has long term relationships with leading retailers, such as Sainsbury's, Tesco and Bargain [...]
Deutsche Bank: Three charts that show these are extraordinary times June 9, 2014 European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi lit several monetary fireworks last week, and traders are paying attention. While ECB policy is still the tightest of any central bank in the G10, the steps Draghi took were stronger than investors has expected. Thursday saw Draghi unveil a package of five key measures: cuts to two [...]
Elon Musk: “I didn’t think SpaceX or Tesla would work” June 9, 2014 Billionaire tech titan Elon Musk – the brain behind Tesla electric cars, a project to colonise Mars and Hyperloop – has more ideas in a year than most people in a lifetime. But speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, the serial entrepreneur admitted that he hasn’t always had faith that things will come [...]
Japanese GDP grew at twice the pace of Germany and the UK in first quarter June 9, 2014 Revisions to Japanese growth estimates have seen them move even higher. The Cabinet Office now sees Japan's growth at 1.6 per cent for the first three months of 2014, up from its initial estimate of 1.5 per cent. Stronger than expected business investment saw growth given the nudge upwards, despite analysts forecasting that revisions would [...]
Sports Direct launches third attempt for Mike Ashley bonus June 9, 2014 Sports Direct is initiating a third attempt to award founder Mike Ashley a bonus, after two previous attempts failed due to shareholder opposition. The 2015 bonus share scheme provides for the grant of no-cost options of up to 25m ordinary shares in the company to 3,000 employees, including Ashley. The scheme could be worth £200m. However, [...]
Lloyds prices TSB IPO below book value June 9, 2014 Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it’s pricing shares for TSB at between 220p to 290p. That’ll see the bank valued at £1.275bn, at the mid-point, when it floats on the stock market at the end of this month. The initial public offering will see 125m ordinary shares sold – 25 per cent of TSB’s [...]
Asian markets make gains on upbeat Chinese data June 9, 2014 Asian markets are on the rise after data from China showed a rise in the May trade surplus, with exports jumping seven per cent on year. The rise in exports can partly be attributed to the easing of distortions caused by over-invoicing. On Friday, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 rose to record highs after [...]
Entrepreneurs flock to London June 9, 2014 LONDON dominates a new league table showing the hottest neighbourhoods for start-up companies, with all but three of the UK’s top 20 areas for business creation located within the capital. Topping the list, published by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, is the postcode EC1V – home to the so-called tech city cluster of digital companies, [...]
Fifa’s sponsors turn up heat on governing body June 9, 2014 FOOTBALL’S world governing body Fifa has come under further pressure on the eve of the World Cup after three of its main sponsors expressed concern at allegations of corruption. Sportswear giant Adidas said the “negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa”, following claims that the success of Qatar’s bid to stage the 2022 World [...]
Osborne to push for more brownfield housing sites June 9, 2014 GEORGE Osborne is this week expected to announce plans to encourage builders to develop homes on brownfield sites, as a new survey shows that planning applications in half of London boroughs declined last year. The chancellor will use his Mansion House speech on Thursday to set out new ways the government will make it easier [...]