Spirit Pub raises a glass to fizzing rise in profits as Greene King merger looms April 29, 2015 Spirit Pub Company toasted a strong rise in earnings yesterday after it reported a 12 per cent gain in half year profits. The pubs group, which has 1,211 boozers concentrated in London and the south east, added £3m of pre-tax profits to take the haul for the six months ending 7 March to £25m. Strong [...]
Romanian superfund Fondul Proprietatea lists shares in London April 29, 2015 Fondul Proprietatea, one of Europe’s biggest trusts, yesterday launched a secondary listing in London in a move designed to boost the profile of Romania’s stock market. The fund, which has $3.1bn (£2.01bn) of assets, will list global depositary receipts (GDRs) on the specialist fund market of the London stock exchange. Emerging market guru Mark [...]
Petropavlovsk wins over analysts with refinancing results April 29, 2015 Gold miner Petropavlovsk narrowed its losses to $348m (£226m) in 2014, compared to a $713m loss in 2013, and several analysts yesterday upgraded their ratings on the company. Petropavlovsk chairman Peter Hambro told City A.M. that 2014 was “a year in which we rebuilt the platform and the year in which we put behind us [...]
Currency affairs: FreemarketFX founder Alex Hunn on launching on crowdfunding platform VentureFounders April 29, 2015 London is the biggest market in the world for FX trading. In 2012, the UK’s daily FX turnover averaged nearly $2 trillion, according to data from TheCityUK. Alex Hunn has a background in the industry. A former Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank vice president and director respectively, in 2011, he started building [...]
Baidu revenue falls short of expectations, but mobile continues to grow April 29, 2015 Baidu's revenue failed to meet expectations in the first quarter, but mobile growth brought some success. The figures During the three months ended March, the Chinese internet search provider's total revenue was $2.053bn (£1.33bn), which was 34 per cent higher than in 2014 but slightly shy of the $2.08bn analysts expected. The $1.22 earnings [...]
Europe is green with envy at our vibrant markets for equity finance April 29, 2015 MONEY might not actually make the world go round, but much of what we take for granted is built upon a hefty pile of it. And without people willing to take a bet on the future – investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs – the pace of growth would slow dramatically. Furthermore, recent [...]
Twitter’s share price just fell another five per cent April 29, 2015 Another bad day for Twitter, after its share price fell more than five per cent to $39 in mid-morning trading in New York. More on this story: Twitter shares plummet as results are leaked early That follows a massive fall yesterday, after its results (which weren't great) were leaked early on Twitter's investor relations site [...]
Pimco just hired former Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke as its adviser April 29, 2015 Pimco has appointed former US Fed chief Ben Bernanke – the second consulting job Bernanke has taken in the past couple of weeks. Bernanke will "contribute his economic expertise and insights to the firm's investment process and periodically engage Pimco's clients", the investment manager said today. Pimco chief executive Douglas Hodge said Pimco said Bernanke's [...]
Ryanair’s been hacked for millions via Chinese bank April 29, 2015 Ryanair has been targeted by hackers who have stolen nearly $5m (£3.25m) from the airline's bank account. The cash was taken from the budget airline by electronic transfer via a Chinese bank, the Irish Times reports. Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau is investigating the crime, which took place last week, and is working with authorities in [...]
Next share price edges higher following sales jump April 29, 2015 The figures Next's share price edged slightly higher by more than three per cent this morning, after the company reported batter-than-expected sales in the past three months thanks to temperate winter and spring weather. Full price sales rose 3.2 per cent in the period, beating the zero to three per cent rise the company itself forecast [...]