Analyst Views: What was your reaction to N Brown’s profit warning? October 9, 2014 JOHN STEVENSON | PEEL HUNT When I look at N Brown the strategy is right. But my concern is we are three weeks on from the second-quarter trading update when they were happy to commit to a 10 per cent profit rise and now we’re looking at a 15 per cent drop… The strategy day [...]
Royal Mail share price wavers as £18m deal over French fine is struck October 9, 2014 Royal Mail revealed yesterday that it had set aside £18m to pay an out-of-court settlement with French competition authorities over an alleged breach of antitrust rules in the country. The £18m pot set aside is split into £12m for the fine and £6m to tackle legal costs associated with the case, which is still under [...]
Royal Mail IPO share price: One year on – will Vince Cable have the last laugh? October 9, 2014 The pressure on business secretary Vince Cable to admit that the government made a mistake pricing Royal Mail shares at 330p has been steadily building since the company floated a year ago. On the first day of conditional trading, shares soared 38 per cent, having already opened at 403p. This increase, coupled with fevered appetite [...]
Skills shortage in construction or property to push up wages by as much as 10pc, says Hays October 9, 2014 Recruitment giant Hays said yesterday that skill shortages were pushing up some white collar salaries as much as 10 per cent, despite sluggish wage growth across the economy as a whole. A booming jobs market has resulted in the firm placing 20 per cent more staff in its latest quarter than in the same period [...]
Lehman Bros’ Dick Fuld is back on deals October 9, 2014 THE FORMER boss of collapsed bank Lehman Brothers is back in action, with reports yesterday indicating he was advising US firm OpenMatch Holdings in its bid to buy the National Stock Exchange. Dick Fuld has kept his head down since the failure of the bank in 2008. But his work on this deal, reported by Dow [...]
London ranked world’s best for business and innovation October 9, 2014 LONDON has topped a survey measuring attractiveness for innovation and business and a host of other metrics. In yet another feather in the capital’s cap, Japan’s Global Power City Index saw London retain its place at the top, beating other global power hubs such as New York and Tokyo. The index ranks the world’s major [...]
£13.4bn raised in City listings October 9, 2014 BUSINESSES wanting to raise capital are increasingly looking to the London stock market, with the total funds raised from initial public offerings (IPOs) during the first nine months of 2014 reaching £13.4bn, according to research released today. The figure is nearly triple the £4.7bn raised in the same period in 2013, according to PwC’s IPO [...]
Canary Wharf Group recoups $350m October 9, 2014 Canary Wharf Group has reached a $350m (£217m) settlement with the liquidators of Lehman Brothers over rent owed after the collapse of the bank in 2008. Lehman Brothers rented 25 Bank Street in Canary Wharf, which is now owned by JP Morgan.
Aim’s biggest champs flock to Old Billingsgate for PwC awards night October 9, 2014 It was the heroes of the junior market’s turn for a night on the tiles last night, as the annual PwC Aim awards descended on Old Billingsgate. Team Shore Capital were there in force as sponsors of the transaction of the year award. The excitement of the gongs aside, it had been quite the day [...]
Anya Hindmarch tells BCC conference: “I fire myself at the end of each working day” October 9, 2014 At the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) conference yesterday, handbag designer Anya Hindmarch let everyone into a few trade secrets. For a start, she has a graffiti painting behind her desk which reads, “scary.” It’s not just a warning to her staff to get her coffee order right, it also reminds her that scary is [...]