Gas crisis is ‘unlikely’ October 31, 2005 British Gas is to hit back at speculation regarding gas shortages today, saying that it is becoming “a scare story that borders on the irresponsible”. Mark Clare, managing director of British Gas Residential, will be giving evidence at the Trade and Industry Committee inquiry on the security of gas supply, along with Ofgem and Malcolm [...]
Mattioli Woods on acquisition trail October 31, 2005 After its AIM float at the end of November, specialist pensions consultancy Mattioli Woods is to start to make acquisitions in an industry it says “would benefit from consolidation”. The company, which provides pensions consultancy and administration services to owner-managers, senior executives and professionals, is raising about £6m for a total market value of between [...]
Dalgleish set to pocket £20m from CBRE deal October 31, 2005 Malcolm Dalgleish is not yet as wealthy as Philip Green, but he has just become almost £20m richer. In property circles Dalgleish is known as Green’s right-hand man, and he has just sold his business for around £30m to the world’s largest real estate advisory firm. He stands to make up to £20m from the [...]
60,000 expected to go bankrupt in 2005 October 31, 2005 Personal bankruptcies are rocketing. Figures from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this week are expected to show that more people are being declared insolvent now than at the height of the 1992 recession. Capital Economics has forecast that there were 14,700 bankruptcies in the last quarter, 45 per cent more than in the [...]
Longbridge back to work in 2007 October 31, 2005 The new Chinese owners of MG Rover are aiming to resume production at the Longbridge plant at the start of 2007. Executives from Nanjing Automobile said that in order to do so, it would need to tie up a deal with a partner, and that it was in talks with several parties. One of the [...]
L&G blocks Sky’s plan for buyback October 31, 2005 BSkyB is set for a stormy Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday after major shareholder Legal & General (L&G) came out publicly over the weekend against the company’s share buyback plan. There is a history of acrimony between BSkyB and L&G — the fund manager voted against a buyback plan last year. Shareholder News Corp, [...]
Hitting Heights: Richard Downs October 31, 2005 He started the company as a theoretical case study for part of his MBA — then hired a staff of dedicated skiers to ensure a real-life peak performance. As stars of the dotcom era crashed and burned, one travel company bucked the trend to become one of Britain’s biggest online success stories. Founded seven years [...]
Doorstep credit ‘costing too much’ October 28, 2005 The Competition Commission has said that consumers are paying too high a price for home credit. An investigation into the doorstep lending market has found that although consumers were generally happy with home credit, there was a lack of competition in the market. Acting Competition Commission chairman Peter Freeman said: “From the evidence so far [...]
Eutelsat’s IPO abandoned October 28, 2005 Eutelsat, the world’s third largest satellite operator, dramatically abandoned its planned initial public offering (IPO) on the Paris Euronext late last night, citing volatile European stock markets. The news comes after Eutelsat was forced to slash its IPO valuation by 20 per cent to around €2.7bn (£1.83bn) on Tuesday, because investors thought its price was [...]
Boots deal is ‘looking up’ October 28, 2005 Boots chief executive Richard Baker claimed yesterday that investors are warming to the idea of the proposed merger with Alliance UniChem. The proposed £7bn “merger of equals” was met with a lukewarm response by shareholders and ratings agencies when it was announced at the start of this month. However, in the intervening weeks, Baker, chairman [...]