British American Tobacco to put its first quitting aid Voke on the market August 23, 2015 British American Tobacco’s (BAT) first anti-smoking product, Voke, will arrive in shops at the end of the year, marking a victory for BAT over its rivals such as Imperial Tobacco who have similar products in development. BAT was granted regulatory approval in 2014 by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA). The product will [...]
Competition heats up for Tesco’s Korea unit ahead of Monday deadline August 23, 2015 Competition for Tesco's South Korean unit Homeplus valued at about £4bn is heating up ahead of the deadline for final bids on Monday. Media reports suggest that private equity firms have formed three separate teams to bid for the supermarket's largest operation outside of the UK. Asia-based Affinity Equity Partners has allied with US private [...]
Dragon Oil share price muted after Enoc takeover clears final hurdle August 23, 2015 Emirates National Oil Company's (Enoc) bid for Ireland-based Dragon Oil has cleared its final hurdle today. In a statement, Dragon Oil said it will delist from the Dublin and London stock exchanges on 7 September, after Enoc received enough acceptances of its £4bn offer to compulsorily acquire any remaining shares in the Irish explorer. Enoc won its [...]
Ryanair to appeal against court ruling allowing passengers to claim delay compensation after two years August 21, 2015 Ryanair will appeal against a court ruling that would allow passengers six years to claim money back from the airline if their flight is delayed. The Manchester County Court earlier today ruled that the low-cost airline could not impose a two year limit on passengers making a claim for flight delay compensation. Read more: Ryanair [...]
Uber IPO? Leaked reports suggest Uber plans to go public within two years August 21, 2015 Ride-hailing app Uber could become a public company by early 2017, according to a leaked document intended for investors, reports news agency Reuters. A confidential document outlining a presentation intended for potential investors in the company’s Chinese arm UberChina revealed that the parent company is forecast to go public within 18-24 months. Speculation about the [...]
Google spins off life sciences to become own company under Alphabet with Andy Conrad as chief exec August 21, 2015 Google’s life sciences team is about to become a standalone company. Formerly part of the tech giant’s secretive research organisation Google X, the company has now confirmed speculation that it’s to be spun off into a company of its own under Alphabet. Co-founder Sergey Brin wrote in a blog post today that the goal would [...]
Gap reports yet another round of disappointing profits for Q2 August 21, 2015 American apparel retailer Gap reported a fall in quarterly profit for the second consecutive quarter yesterday. The company said that it had been hit by a stronger dollar, shipment delays and weak sales. The company said net income fell by more than a third to $219m (£140m) or 52 cents per share, in the second [...]
HP sales slip as consumers hold off buying PCs August 21, 2015 Computing giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) reported its fourth straight quarter of lower revenues yesterday, pointing to a strong dollar, weak personal computer sales and lower demand from corporates for its services. Falling demand for PCs has severely impacted the company, with HP reporting a drop in quarterly sales in 15 of the last 16 quarters. Revenue at HP’s [...]
Twitter’s share price is tanking: Stock swoops below $26 IPO price August 20, 2015 The rapidly declining share price of Twitter has swooped lower than its IPO price of $26 – a new nadir for the troubled social network. Twitter shares have fallen by more than six per cent in early afternoon trading, sending stock as low as $25.94 per share, and tumbling past the marker which signals the [...]
Premier cuts costs as it joins the oil leak August 20, 2015 Premier Oil yesterday announced losses of $214.7m (£137m) as the effects of over-supply in the market made their way on to another oil company’s balance sheets. The firm’s losses came despite revenues coming in ahead of expectations at $577. Premier said it had implemented a series of cost-cutting measures to see it through a period [...]