FTSE 100 Live: Stocks to dip after Asian markets hit with tech jitters; Oil falls as OPEC+ ups output
Crown Estate in £72m sale June 3, 2014 THE CROWN Estate and Hercules Unit Trust (HUT), a Jersey-based fund advised by British Land, said yesterday they have sold a retail park in Leamington Spa for £72m. Ignis Asset Management has bought the 220,000 square feet Leamington Shopping Park in Warwickshire in a deal that reflects a net initial yield of 4.4 per cent. [...]
Hotel Chocolat nears the finishing line on second sweet bond offer June 3, 2014 Chocolate seller Hotel Chocolat is on track to raise up to £5m of development capital through a retail bond offering – which pays interest to customers in chocolate. The company, led by founder Angus Thirlwell, is expected to close the bond offering next week after a month of fundraising. “The early stages are encouraging. We [...]
Shoppers pay £520bn by card as death of cash draws nearer June 3, 2014 THREE-quarters of spending in UK shops is paid for on debit and credit cards, the UK Cards Association revealed yesterday. A decade ago, plastic accounted for half of spending in shops. The surge means that shoppers used cards for more than £520bn of spending in 2013, a record high. The figure compares with spending of [...]
LondonMetric returns to profit June 3, 2014 LondonMetric reported a leap in full-year profits yesterday thanks to a surge in the value of its portfolio and a revival in the property market beyond south east England. The group, which buys and develops distribution warehouses for retailers such as Waitrose, said profits rose to £125.3m in the year to 31 March from a [...]
London demand lifts Mount Anvil June 3, 2014 London residential property developer Mount Anvil delivered record profits last year after benefiting from strong demand for homes in the capital. The group yesterday said profits rose 52 per cent to £15.4m last year compared with £10.1m in 2012 on sales up 50 per cent to £162.2m. The value of its development pipeline stood at [...]
Exova appoints Goldman Sachs June 3, 2014 Exova Group, the newly floated laboratory testing company, yesterday said it appointed Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse as joint corporate brokers. The business, which floated in April, used the two investment banks as joint global co-ordinators, joint sponsors and joint bookrunners on the initial public offering, alongside joint bookrunner Barclays. Goldman has about 10 FTSE [...]
Betfair and the case of the UK’s first squidlock June 3, 2014 WHY DID the Octopus cross the road? It didn’t. The truck it was on stopped smack bang in the middle of Oxford Street at rush hour. Arf, arf. London came to a standstill yesterday when a truck, transporting an eight-legged prop for a Betfair advert choked in the epicentre of London’s rush hour, causing much bemusement [...]
Jodie Kidd’s family album offers glimpse into Epsom Derby of old June 3, 2014 THE WEEKEND’S Investec Derby is racing towards us faster than a rag of newly shod colts. For those of you slipping into a dress on Ladies Day this Friday, you might be interested to hear that a £5,000 shopping spree at Harvey Nichols is on the horizon for the best dressed racegoer. Harvey Nicks’ fashion [...]
London Mining stocks plunge to record low after Ebola outbreak June 3, 2014 AN OUTBREAK of the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone drove London Mining shares down 13.8 per cent yesterday to a record low of 36p. The British Aim-listed iron ore company was hit hard in a mining sell-off that also dropped African Minerals 7.6 per cent, to 97p. London Mining said it had increased its assessed [...]
Bowleven shares soar on state support for Cameroon project June 3, 2014 SHARES in Bowleven shot up yesterday after it announced the Cameroon government has agreed support for its Etinde Permit. The stocks, listed on the Aim market, rocketed 9.63 per cent to close at 37p. The Africa-focused oil and gas group said a formal resolution has been passed, following a meeting with the government on May [...]