Bwin.party looks to gamble on talks over possible £1bn takeover November 12, 2014 ONLINE gaming company Bwin.party announced yesterday it was in early talks with a number of unnamed parties concerning a potential offer for the company, which could value it at just over £1bn. The Gibraltar-headquartered firm issued the statement in response to speculation over a possible takeover. Its shares closed up 10.48 per cent at 119.1p [...]
Ex-Gaucho MD’s new place M is pukka for Chuka November 12, 2014 Some of the City’s best known names trotted down to Threadneedle Walk last night for the opening of Gaucho’s former MD Martin Williams’ new restaurant complex, M. Metro Bank chief Craig Donaldson was there, rubbing shoulders with designer Amanda Wakeley, chef Angela Hartnett and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, who was there with old uni [...]
Our awards are here – dig out those gladrags November 12, 2014 FROM top hats to Louboutins, the City is dusting off its finest this morning for tonight’s hugely anticipated City A.M. awards at Grange St Paul’s Hotel. With 14 awards to hand over, we’re looking forward to loading up the mantelpieces of the City’s most hard-working and successful names. In the running we’ve got well-known City [...]
Barratt is building on another strong year of housing growth November 12, 2014 BARRATT Developments said yesterday it was on track to deliver a strong year of growth and that market conditions would remain robust for the group across all UK regions. The housebuilder said its sales rate of 0.63 net private reservations per site per week in the 19 weeks to 9 November was down on the [...]
Derwent is seeking to double developments November 12, 2014 DERWENT London said yesterday that it plans to almost double its development pipeline as demand for office space in the capital heats up. The developer, which owns swathes of property around Old Street and Shoreditch targeting the tech and creative industries, said it would complete 277,500 square feet of space by early 2015, with a [...]
Daisy Lowe and Clegg’s wife act as mentors November 12, 2014 HOST Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, partner at law firm Dechert LLP and wife of Nick Clegg, was joined by model Daisy Lowe and Vogue UK editor Alexandra Shulman yesterday for her Inspiring Women in Fashion event, which saw a long list of high achieving women in fashion network with 100 girls at St Saviour’s & St [...]
SSE reveals new chairman as it posts profit dip November 12, 2014 ENERGY firm SSE saw its shares fall by 2.78 per cent yesterday after reporting that profit before tax had dropped by 6.2 per cent in the six months to 30 September 2014, to £316.6m. The group stated that due to a combination of a “challenging business environment and persistently low production and consumption of energy”, [...]
Virgin Money to start trading at lower end of pricing scale November 12, 2014 THE LONG-AWAITED flotation of Virgin Money will take place tomorrow, although the bank is planning to price its shares right at the bottom of their range, City A.M. understands. Earlier this month we revealed the challenger bank will target a share price of 283p-333p when it launches its IPO, valuing it at £1.25bn-£1.45bn. A source close [...]
Capita’s bid pipeline dries November 12, 2014 UK OUTSOURCING firm Capita saw its share price fall 6.51 per cent to 1,048p yesterday after it revealed recent contract losses and a decreasing bid pipeline. The company said it had obtained £1.63bn in new contracts in the year to date, dropping from £2.9bn in the same period last year. Its bid pipeline also dropped [...]
Income hike for Punch Taverns November 12, 2014 UK BAR and pub operator Punch Taverns yesterday announced its core estate had achieved 1.3 per cent growth in like-for-like net income for the year ending 24 August. The Staffordshire-based company also successfully completed its capital restructuring process, reducing its total net debt by £600,000. The company said it was “delivering [its] business plan with [...]