Spreadbetter Plus500 bounces higher ahead of crunch shareholder meeting May 26, 2015 Crisis-hit spreadbetter Plus500 won the backing of top shareholder Odey Asset Management yesterday, ahead of a crunch meeting of shareholders today in London. An Odey fund run by James Hanbury added another tranche of shares to its holdings, taking the company’s ownership of the firm past 19 per cent, amid a broad-based rally in [...]
IMF tells China to let currency trade freely May 26, 2015 China’s government is being urged to liberalise more of its economy, and let markets operate more freely in its finance sectors. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday urged the authorities to let its currency, the renminbi, trade freely, and asked the government to target a free-floating exchange rate in the next two to three years. [...]
Boohoo’s finance chief Neil Catto granted options over 1.6m shares May 26, 2015 Boohoo’s finance chief Neil Catto was yesterday granted 1.6m share options worth £400,000 after his previous options effectively went under water following a slump in the online retailer’s share price. Catto, who steered the company through its float in March last year, was rewarded at the time with options over 2m shares. These would have [...]
Twitter in discussions to buy news curating app Flipboard May 26, 2015 Social media giant Twitter is in talks with Flipboard, to buy the media curation mobile app. Reports from Silicon Valley indicate that the rumoured deal could be worth $1bn (£649m). Flipboard allows users to build a personalised collection of news and other media content that they access on a tablet or mobile device. It has [...]
Charter Communications confirms $55bn takeover of Time Warner Cable May 26, 2015 Charter Communications has finalised its $55bn (£36bn) takeover of Time Warner Cable. The cable mega-deal, which valued Time Warner Cable at $78.7bn, will create the second-largest cable and broadcasting company in the US behind industry leader Comcast. Backed by billionaire media investor John Malone, Charter has beaten Comcast to the cable business with a superior [...]
Ryanair share price jumps as profit soars following new customer service programme May 26, 2015 Ryanair's share price soared this morning as it celebrated its 30th birthday with a 66 per cent increase in net profit for the year – beating analysts' expectations. The figures The low-cost carrier reported net profit of €867m (£614m) in the 12 months ended March 31 from €523m at the same period last year. Revenue rose more steadily [...]
Business leaders slam ‘shameful’ Thomas Cook as pressure builds on former boss Harriet Green over £10.5m share award May 25, 2015 Thomas Cook is under pressure to review a £10.5m payout to former boss Harriet Green amid mounting criticism over its response to the deaths of two British children in Corfu. Green is set to collect seven million Thomas Cook shares – worth £1.47 each – under a pay deal struck in 2012. The timing [...]
Japan Tobacco to sell £798m drink business to Suntory Beverage & Food May 25, 2015 Suntory Beverage & Food announced yesterday its intention to purchase Japan Tobacco Inc.’s drink and vending and machine businesses for close to ¥150bn (£798m). As part of the deal, Japan Tobacco which owns the Camel and Amber Leaf cigarette brands in the UK, will offload its shares in its subsidiaries Japan Beverage Holdings and JT [...]
Vatican Bank profits soar but it turns down wealth accumulation May 25, 2015 Scandal-hit lender the Vatican Bank yesterday reported surging profits for 2014, as its leaders continue to try to turn the troubled institution around. The bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), made €69.3m (£49m) in the year, up from €2.7m in 2013. Of that profit, €15.3m is retained by the bank with [...]
BlackBerry announces more job cuts as reorganisation takes hold May 25, 2015 BlackBerry has announced that it will make job cuts as it consolidates. However, the struggling Canadian smartphone maker declined to say how many jobs would go, and where specifically the cuts would fall. A statement from the firm said: “We have made the decision to consolidate our device software, hardware and applications business, impacting a [...]