Essar takeover battle rumbles on as board rejects founders’ offer March 17, 2014 ESSAR Energy’s independent board committee has accused the majority shareholder of undervaluing the embattled power firm with its takeover offer, and is urging minority stakeholders to reject the bid. Essar Global Fund (EGF), which is controlled by the firm’s billionaire founders the Ruia brothers, had offered 70p per share for the remaining 22 per cent [...]
UK mutuals investor Capital for Colleagues starts trading today March 17, 2014 CAPITAL for Colleagues, an investment vehicle that focuses on opportunities in the employee-owned-business (EOB) sector, will today start trading on the London-based ISDX growth market, having raised £2.19m. The firm will have a market capitalisation of £3.25m on listing. “The company’s clearly defined strategy aims to provide capital and practical assistance to both current and [...]
City watchdog doubled dawn raids last year March 17, 2014 DAWN raids on suspects in frauds and other finance crime cases have almost doubled in the last 12 months, according to a new analysis of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) actions. The City watchdog carried out 20 such raids in 2013, according to law firm RPC, up from 11 in 2012. The jump in searches [...]
HMRC steps up asset seizures to pay VAT bills March 17, 2014 THE NUMBER of businesses who have had assets seized and sold by HM Revenue & Customs to settle overdue VAT bills has soared during the recession, according to data obtained by finance provider Syscap. Figures sourced from HMRC show that 3,657 businesses had assets seized last year after being served distraint orders by the taxman, [...]
LivingSocial UK chief joins YPlan to spearhead European growth March 17, 2014 YPLAN, the mobile booking app founded by former City workers Rytis Vitkauskas and Viktoras Jucikas, has appointed the chief executive of LivingSocial as its operations chief, starting today. Peter Briffett ran LivingSocial UK and Ireland for four years before his move to YPlan, where he will be tasked with growing the app’s customer base and [...]
Economics is baffling to half the population March 17, 2014 JUST 48 per cent of UK adults understand how the economy works, according to a new poll out today. International research has uncovered an economic literacy gap that leaves the UK lagging behind many of its competitors around the world; especially when it comes to understanding how our spending decisions impact the local economy. Steve [...]
City Moves for 17 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 17, 2014 Chelverton Asset Management The asset management firm has appointed Richard Bucknell as an investment director in its unquoted equities team. Prior to joining, Bucknell held senior investment management positions at Barclays Ventures. Insparo Asset Management The Africa and Middle East specialist investment firm has hired Peter Lindqvist as head of sales and marketing. Lindqvist was [...]
Best of the Brokers for 17 March 2014 March 17, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com MORRISONS Cantor Fitzgerald keeps its “buy” rating and puts its target under review after the supermarket’s profit warning last week. The broker thinks the shares will be supported by the prospect of a takeover by the likes of Amazon or a grocery rival [...]
London Report: Osborne in spotlight as Britons await the 2014 Budget details March 17, 2014 THE spotlight will be on Chancellor George Osborne this Wednesday as he delivers the 2014 Budget. Other economic news includes the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes plus unemployment figures, also on Wednesday, the CBI Industrial Trends survey on Thursday and government borrowing figures at the end of the week. The corporate calendar starts today [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Crimean vote spooks market March 17, 2014 INVESTORS will start the week early as yesterday’s referendum to decide if Crimea becomes part of Russia or remains Ukrainian will likely reverberate in markets worldwide. US stocks closed Friday with their largest weekly drop in the last seven weeks as the strongest confrontation between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold [...]