Consulting firm buyers predict a rise in deals October 5, 2014 BUYERS of consulting firms forecast six per cent growth in deals over the next two to three years, according to a new report from M&A advisory firm Equiteq. Nearly a third of the 100 buyers of consulting firms that were surveyed said they expected their growth to come through acquisitions rather than organically and the [...]
City Moves for 06 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 5, 2014 Camarco The recently launched financial and corporate communications consultancy has announced the appointment of Ginny Pulbrook as partner and head of industrials and support services. She joins from Citigate Dewe Rogerson, where she has worked since co-founding the business in 1988. Pulbrook began her career in corporate finance at NM Rothschild and Bankers Trust. [...]
Best of the Brokers for 06 October 2014 October 5, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BAE SYSTEMS Westhouse has reiterated its “sell” recommendation with a target price of 469p, Germany stopped taking delivery of Typhoon fighter aircraft following the discovery of BAE-manufactured non-conforming rivet holes in a rear fuselage section not identified by the firm’s quality control checks. [...]
MPC to publish rate verdict but no change seen – London Report October 5, 2014 THE MONETARY Policy Committee (MPC) will announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday, but Investec does not expect any change from the current 0.5 per cent and quantitative easing target at £375bn. September’s Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) monthly housing data will also be updated on Thursday, after house prices grew at their [...]
Sell-off fears remain for the US stockmarket – New York Report October 5, 2014 A POSITIVE vibe returned to the US stock market on Friday, leaving some to wonder whether, after two weeks of losses, the latest sell-off scare was over. The most recent decline in the S&P 500 marks the third time in six months that the market has looked wobbly and threatened a significant reversal. Each time, [...]
Total Media’s Guy Sellers on the strengths of independent media agencies October 5, 2014 In an age of unprecedented consolidation in the media world, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the smaller, independent agencies must be struggling to compete, clinging on for dear life amid a flurry of dealmaking by the industry’s giants. Outfits like Total Media, however, call this assumption into question. Its income grew by 14.6 per [...]
David Cameron’s anti-immigration rhetoric spells doom for London’s creative firms October 5, 2014 David Cameron’s Conservative party conference speech last week was in many ways a great success. Passionate and compelling, he gave easily the best performance of the party leaders so far. But for all the strong messages on the economy and popular tax giveaways, the government’s continued and deepening anti-immigration rhetoric, now directed squarely at Europe, concerns [...]
Gone Girl tops UK box office as Ben Affleck helps David Fincher land best-ever opening weekend October 5, 2014 Take a best-selling book already established as a worldwide phenomenon, add a Hollywood heartthrob and one of Hollywood’s most critically acclaimed directors and….boom! You have a box office smash. “Gone Girl”, David Fincher’s adaptation of the wildly successful Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, has raced straight to the top of the UK [...]
Microsoft insists Samsung owes it $6.9m in unpaid interest October 5, 2014 Microsoft is suing Samsung for $6.9m (£4.33m) in unpaid interest, an unsealed lawsuit has revealed. In August Microsoft announced it was suing the South Korean firm in a dispute over unpaid interest on Android patent royalties. The lawsuit, now made public by a New York federal court, reveals that although Microsoft has already [...]
Ebola in the UK, what’s the risk? By the end of the month it could be as high as 50pc October 5, 2014 The risk of Ebola being imported into the UK before the end of October is as high as 50 per cent, scientists have predicted. Heathrow’s status as one of the world’ biggest travel hubs puts the UK at greater risk of a traveller passing into the country unknowingly carrying the virus. With an 80 per [...]