Mid-cap firms outperform big companies amid stall in sales November 9, 2014 AVERAGE sales growth at UK companies remains sluggish, with profit margins under pressure, leading retail stockbroker The Share Centre said yesterday. The overall weak figures, however, conceal a strong disparity between different sized companies, with UK mid-caps outperforming their blue chip counterparts, according to the company’s latest Profit Watch UK report. The total annual revenues [...]
UK construction boom close to pre-crisis level November 9, 2014 THE CONSTRUCTION industry continues to make impressive headway as the sector soars towards pre-crisis levels of output, a set of data shows today. The majority of firms are reporting rising output. The net balance – the per cent of survey respondents answering positively minus those answering negatively – of building contractors that said output rose [...]
Kurt Geiger expands on the high street as luxury shoe sales soar November 9, 2014 LUXURY shoemakers Kurt Geiger will post third-quarter results today, showing a 13 per cent jump in like-for-like sales during the period leading to year-to-date turnover of £210m, also up 13 per cent. Kurt Geiger has opened 28 new stores so far in 2014 and has a further 28 new stores in the pipeline for the [...]
Snapchat hits $12bn value in latest funding November 9, 2014 PHOTO messaging app Snapchat is currently fundraising at its highest ever valuation of up to $12bn (£7.5bn) according to reports. The startup, which was launched in 2011 by three Stanford University students, has virtually no revenue, but is in talks with a number of potential investors, including Yahoo, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others, [...]
Genel poised to reveal lucrative Turkey gas deal November 9, 2014 OIL COMPANY Genel Energy may be preparing to unveil a gas supply deal with Turkey this week. According to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML), the London-listed firm could stand to benefit from gas agreements between Kurdistan and Turkey, which could see Kurdistan supplying as much as 10 per cent of Turkey’s gas [...]
Carat secures £140m UK government deal November 9, 2014 THE UK government’s £140m media buying account has been awarded to agency Carat, after a legal challenge by WPP-owned M4C was shot down by the courts last week. While Carat was handed the account in September, incumbent agency M4C lodged a complaint over the way the pitching process had been handled, delaying the approval of [...]
Caterham raises £1m in 48 hours in bid to race at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix November 9, 2014 British Formula One team Caterham have raised over £1m in just 48 hours in a bid to race at the season grand finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 23 November. The cash-strapped team’s administrators revealed a plan on Friday to raise £2.35m in order to make it to the starting grid. The crowdfunding scheme [...]
Encore Capital back again for luxury health club acquisition November 9, 2014 ENCORE Capital, the London-based investment firm focused on entrepreneurial growth businesses, yesterday completed the acquisition of the 37 Degrees health and fitness club from venture capital investor Albion Ventures. The move comes as Encore looks to expand in the broader healthy lifestyle segment and follows on from the group’s purchase of luxury gym operator The [...]
HMRC recovers record £3.65bn in unpaid taxes from avoidance schemes, evasion and fraud November 9, 2014 A record amount of unpaid tax has been recovered from avoidance schemes, evasion and fraud by HMRC’s top team of specialist investigators – up by almost a quarter in the past year, says Pinsent Masons, the international law firm. According to Pinsent Masons, the compliance yield from HMRC’s specialist investigations team hit £3.65bn in 2013/14, [...]
City Moves for 10 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 9, 2014 Lombard The asset finance provider has appointed Greg Chiappini as head of aviation and marine. He was most recently head of specialist asset management at Lombard, and started his career as an officer in the South African Navy. MetLife UK Simon Massey has been appointed wealth management director at the insurance and investment firm. He [...]