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 [...]
Amec wins two multi-million contracts from National Grid June 3, 2014 ENGINEERING and project management company Amec has been awarded two multi-million-pound framework contracts by National Grid. Under the agreements, which start immediately and run for four years with options to extend, Amec will work on “refurbishment and installation of overhead lines and installation of underground cables across England”. Work packages will be tendered on an [...]
Severfield knocked by increased losses at its Indian joint venture June 3, 2014 STEEL group Severfield, previously known as Severfield-Rowen, faced a four per cent drop in its share price yesterday after full-year results revealed increased losses from its Indian joint venture. Shares closed at 54.25p after the company gave results for the year ending 31 March. Severfield reported a loss after tax of £2.6m, an improvement on [...]