Goals Soccer scores £11m placing March 10, 2014 GOALS Soccer Centres raised £11.4m through a share placing yesterday as the group revives expansion plans that were put on ice last year after a failed takeover approach bid by a Canadian pension fund. The five-a-side football pitch operator placed 5.2m new shares, equal to around 9.9 per cent of its existing share capital, to [...]
HgCapital figures disappoint March 10, 2014 HgCapital Trust, the listed private equity vehicle, reported a poor set of full year results yesterday. The group behind brands such as spreadbetters Sporting Index and telecom firm Manx said the value of its assets fell 1.6 per cent for the full year ending December. Weak trading at two of its firms – Lumesse and [...]
Capita selected for MoD contract March 10, 2014 FTSE 100 outsourcing firm Capita yesterday said it has been selected as preferred bidder by the Ministry of Defence for a £400m 10-year contract to support the management of its military estate. “The partnership will help to unlock the knowledge, skills and resources that already exist within the defence infrastructure organisation, while adding capability to [...]
SSP ready to fly after Finnish win March 10, 2014 Upper Crust owner SSP has secured a €300m (£250m) contract with Finnish firm Finavia to build 20 outlets across Helsinki Airport and three of Finland’s regional airports. SSP is understood to be gearing up for a summertime stock market float, that could value the firm at up to £2bn, having appointed bankers from Goldman Sachs [...]
Big time bidder saves his bacon March 10, 2014 PORK was well and truly off the menu for the star-studded crowd at Tracy Worcester’s “Pig Pledge” event at No 41 in Mayfair last night. The well-connected campaigner was drumming up support for her charity Pig Business, which is trying to encourage people to boycott meat from animal factories – actor Dominic West, Zac Goldsmith [...]
The silver screen beckons Randall March 10, 2014 THE GHERKIN was taken over by film crews yesterday, as a movie starring Kelsey Grammer (yes, Frasier) chose the Sky News studio as one of its backdrops. Why? Well, the movie includes a scene involving the Jeff Randall Show and the presenter was roped in to play himself on screen. The Sky News team had to [...]
Euro investors at most bullish for three years March 10, 2014 THE CONFIDENCE of investors in the Eurozone rose again this month, climbing to the highest level since early 2011 despite the announcement of poor industrial output in France. The Sentix investor confidence index reached 13.9 in March, the highest level since the same month three years ago, before the European Central Bank’s swiftly-reversed increase in interest rates. [...]
Cyprus Central Bank governor quits March 10, 2014 PANICOS Demetriades, governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, handed in his resignation yesterday, and will stay in the post until 10 April. The governor was known to have a sour relationship with President Nicos Anastasiades, who had publicly sought legal approval to sack Demetriades.
IGas surges as court rules to move activists March 10, 2014 SHARES in IGas rose over 1.8 per cent yesterday after a Manchester court ruled in favour of landowners to move anti-fracking protesters from land near Barton Moss, where the energy company has begun exploratory drilling for shale gas. Judge Mark Pelling QC ruled in favour of the Peel Group and said that protesters must leave [...]
Hangar 8 merger talks called off March 10, 2014 Private jet group Hangar 8 and Air Charter Service have ended merger talks, the firms announced yesterday. Hangar 8 chairman Nigel Payne said the collapse of the talks was disappointing but that his firm has an “excellent platform” to grow as a standalone company. Shares in Hangar 8 rose 4.6 per cent to 264p on [...]