Metro Bank closer to profit as lending levels more than double October 22, 2014 Challenger bank Metro lost £9.4m in the third quarter, improving on the £11.4m loss in the same period of 2013. The lender, which has been nominated for a City A.M. award this year, saw its deposits jump 118 per cent on the year to £2.34bn. At the same time, its loan book increased by 146 [...]
Handelsbanken gets up to 180 British branches October 22, 2014 SWEDISH lender Handelsbanken grew its loan book to £13.3bn in the third quarter, its financial results showed yesterday. The group is on track to open its 180th branch in the UK, as it rolls out its localised model of lending. Handelsbanken, which is along with Metro Bank is nominated for a City A.M. award, has [...]
Spirit delivers growth despite tough summer October 22, 2014 PUB CHAIN Spirit Pubs, currently the £723.3m takeover target of rival Greene King, yesterday reported its full-year profit grew 11 per cent due to strong growth in its managed pub division. Revenues from the 1,227 managed and leased pubs that Spirit controls, including Chef & Brewer, Fayre & Square and Flaming Grill, rose 5.6 per [...]
Total appoints new chairman and chief exec October 22, 2014 OIL FIRM Total has named two successors for its chief executive and chairman Christophe de Margerie, who died in a plane crash in Moscow on Monday night. Following a meeting of the company’s governance and ethics committee yesterday, Total announced that it had separated the role into two positions, and named Thierry Desmarest as chairman [...]
In pictures: Here’s what Battersea’s stunning roof garden will look like October 22, 2014 Battersea Power Station yesterday unveiled the look of its Foster and Partners designed roof gardens, ahead of the third phase of the closely watched project. The developers of the scheme said the Battersea Roof Gardens and Prospect Park would house one of the biggest roof gardens in London. “We have worked on many gardens, but [...]
EE boss Olaf Swantee aims for 7m 4G customers October 22, 2014 Britain’s biggest mobile operator, EE, saw its 4G customer base grow by 1.4m during the third quarter to 5.6m total subscribers. The growth puts EE on track to beat its 2014 goal of signing up 6m customers to its superfast offering, the largest 4G network in Europe. “We’re going to exceed that number, and it’s [...]
Johnson & Johnson to start human testing on Ebola vaccine October 22, 2014 US PHARMA giant Johnson & Johnson announced today that it would begin human trials of its Ebola vaccine in January. The company said it would spend $200m (£124m) on speeding up its research programme, and begin testing in America, Africa and Europe early next year. The vaccine combines a formula from one of its subsidiaries, [...]
Samsung picks British startup Bango for billing October 22, 2014 CAMBRIDGE-based carrier billings startup Bango has signed a deal with Samsung to preload its software on the South Korean tech giant’s smartphones, letting consumers charge games, music and videos directly from their mobile phone bills. Shares in the Aim-listed company jumped 5.76 per cent on the news to 101p in London, valuing Bango at over [...]
Japan’s e-commerce giant drives global rollout with launch of Rakuten.co.uk to replace Play.com October 22, 2014 Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce giant and owner of messaging app Viber and Play.com, has launched an own-brand UK online marketplace similar to Ebay, which it says will subsume Play.com early next year. The site brings together goods sold directly by Rakuten as well as third-party retailers and digital media. “What consumers want from retailers is [...]
Media company Gorkana sold to Cision for £200m October 22, 2014 AMERICAN media group Cision yesterday snapped up British PR data company Gorkana in a deal estimated to be worth £200m. Exponent Private Equity sold the company, after building it up from Durrants, Metrica and Gorkana, merging the three into a combined group. Gorkana was founded in 2005 by former Brunswick PRs Michael Webster and Alex [...]