Sparkling plan: Private equity owner of jewellery company Aurum considering stock market float as well as sale January 4, 2017 The London Stock Exchange could be be set for another jewel in its crown. The private equity owner of high-class jeweller Aurum Holdings, which is behind high street chain Goldsmiths, is considering options for floating the company. Apollo Global Management, which acquired the firm for a reported £180m in 2012, has appointed Jefferies bankers to [...]
Carillion joint venture nabs £160m contract for development in Dubai’s central business district January 4, 2017 A Carillion joint venture has bagged a £160m contract to build a real estate development in the heart of Dubai's central business district. Al Futtaim Carillion has been awarded a contract by the Dubai World Trade Centre to deliver the latest phase of real estate development One Central, located between the Emirates Towers and Dubai [...]
Trading house Vitol nabs $1bn pre-finance oil deal with National Iranian Oil Company January 4, 2017 Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, is understood to have sealed a $1bn (£814m) pre-financing deal with Iran's national oil company. It has agreed to loan the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) $1bn equivalent in euros, guaranteed by future exports of refined oil products, sources told Reuters. The deal is the first major contract signed between Iran and [...]
BGC Partners buys Lloyd’s broker Besso in deal worth £71m January 4, 2017 Lloyd's of London broker Besso has been swallowed up by US broking giant BGC Partners in a deal that values the firm at £71m. The purchase provides an exit for the Besso's owners – its senior management team and private equity house BP Marsh. Read more: Lloyd's insurer Endurance bought by Japanese owner of Canopius The fund's share [...]
Discount loo roll business Accrol spies Brexit opportunity as consumers look for cheaper tissue options January 4, 2017 Discount loo roll business Accrol today reported growing revenue and profits, while laying out plans to capitalise on customers being driven to cheaper options after the EU referendum. The figures Accrol, which floated on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in June, reported revenue of £63.9m, up 8.8 per cent, in unaudited interim results for the six months [...]
It’s official: City Airport really is the only airport in London January 4, 2017 It turns out the City's favourite airport really is the only airport in London – after one of its advertising claims was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). London City Airport was criticised for being misleading after its assertion in a radio ad that it was "the only airport actually located in the city [...]
You’ve copper-be joking? Small business report reveals two-thirds of firms are on old-style connections January 4, 2017 The majority of Britain's small businesses are not using fibre broadband, a report by the telecoms regulator has revealed. Although speed and reliability of internet services were the two key issues facing the UK's smaller firms, 67 per cent of businesses are using a non-fibre fixed line ADSL connection, a study of over 1,500 firms commissioned by watchdog Ofcom found. [...]
Virtual visualisation could prevent the home improvement industry from missing out on as much as £1bn lost to the “imagination gap” January 4, 2017 UK consumers are looking to make home improvements this year, but many won't seal the deal because of the difficulty of imagining what renovations will look like in their own home, new research has found. In the next 12 months, 56 per cent of UK consumers are planning to make some kind of home improvement purchase, DigitalBridge [...]
The key US dollar three-month Libor rate rises above one per cent for first time since 2009 January 4, 2017 The key benchmark interest rate for banks to lend to each other has risen above one per cent for the first time since May 2009, in a long overdue sign of recovery in banking sector lending. The three-month US dollar Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) rose to 1.00511 after being fixed at 0.99872 on Tuesday, [...]
Hammond becomes latest minister to visit Gulf in UK’s Middle East charm offensive January 4, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has become the latest government minister to visit the Middle East as part of the UK's ongoing charm offensive aimed at Gulf states. Hammond will visit Kuwait, UAE and Qatar, following in the footsteps of a several senior figures in Prime Minister Theresa May's regime. May, herself, visited Bahrain in early December [...]