Premier Foods completes rights issue April 8, 2014 Premier Foods said yesterday that it had completed the rights issue portion of its recent capital restructuring, with investors taking up 96 per cent of the shares offered. The owner of Bisto gravy and Mr Kipling cakes, announced it had secured a £1.1bn refinancing package that included raising £353m via a placing and a rights [...]
KPMG teams up with capital platform April 8, 2014 Accounting group KPMG has teamed up with a company that helps smaller companies get paid more quickly. C2FO, an online marketplace for working capital, will spend three years working with KPMG to attract more British firms to its platform. “I believe this will prove a really interesting addition to the increasingly diverse mix of funding [...]
Rowland’s old wheels are on sale for a steal April 8, 2014 IF YOU fancy getting your hands on a piece of British business history we might have just the ticket. The Capitalist has caught wind that the late and controversial billionaire Tiny Rowland’s Bentley is up for sale…and it’s on Autotrader. The Bentley Continental R Coupe is in pristine condition, has only had three owners and a [...]
Hole in one for City A.M. reader April 8, 2014 PLAYING golf is pretty fun. But playing golf with one of your sportstar heros is even better – as one lucky City A.M. reader found out last week. Sion Davies won a round of golf at Woburn Golf Club with Welsh rugby international Jamie Roberts – an ambassador for Voyage by Investec – having entered [...]
Stock Spirits’ largest shareholder Oaktree exits in £200m sell-off April 8, 2014 CENTRAL and eastern European spirits producer Stock Spirits Group saw its biggest shareholder, Oaktree Capital Management, sell its 36.8 per cent stake in the firm yesterday. The private equity firm exited Stock Spirits, which listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market in October, via the placing of 72.6m shares at 275p – raising nearly £200m for [...]
Samsung smartphone division posts a second profit warning April 8, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics, the subsidiary of Samsung behind its Galaxy smartphones, has warned of a four per cent drop in operating profit for the quarter to March, marking the second quarterly decline in a row. The South Korean firm said that sales for the quarter are expected to be 53 trillion won (£30.2bn), flat on last [...]
Ferrexpo ramps up production in face of continued Ukraine unrest April 8, 2014 THE POLITICAL crisis in Ukraine took the gloss off miner Ferrexpo’s strong first-quarter production results yesterday. The FTSE 250 iron ore producer, which operates in the beleaguered country, posted a 9.2 per cent rise in production year-on-year to 2.71m tonnes. The company said last month that the ongoing political conflict with Russia over territory in [...]
China greenlights Microsoft’s €5.4bn Nokia handset takeover April 8, 2014 CHINESE regulators have finally approved Microsoft’s takeover of Nokia’s mobile phone business after a series of delays. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce officially approved the deal worth €5.4bn (£4.4bn) yesterday after a lengthy study of Nokia’s patent licensing practices. China is the latest antitrust regulator to approve the plan to sell the Finnish technology firm’s [...]
Daisy boosted by acquisitions April 8, 2014 Daisy Group, the telecoms firm, said yesterday that revenues are in line with expectations for the year to March. Chief executive Matthew Riley said: “Our revenue mix continues to improve, further boosted by the acquisitions made during the year. It is also pleasing to report a marked improvement in free cash flow generation during the [...]
Next Fifteen climbs with digital April 8, 2014 Communications firm Next Fifteen reported a confident outlook yesterday after its revenues rose six per cent to £49.3m during the six months to 31 January. Adjusted profit was up 13 per cent to £5.1m and performance was led by US revenue rising 17 per cent to £28.4m. Under new CFO Peter Harris, the group said [...]