Afren share price falls after it admits it will miss interest payment May 11, 2015 Afren will miss an interest payment on its debts as the company looks to preserve its cash during restructuring negotiations. The Africa-based oil firm, which has endured a 98 per cent collapse in its share price during a torrid year, will miss a $12.8m (£8.3m) interest payment resulting in a formal default on bonds due [...]
Lonmin to restructure business and cut up to 3,500 jobs as profits tumble May 11, 2015 South African mining company Lonmin has announced it could axe 3,500 jobs as it seeks to cut 10 per cent from its labour costs. In its half-yearly results released today (six months to 31 March) the miner, which owns the Marikana platinum mine where 34 workers were shot dead by police during a strike in [...]
HSBC creates £8bn UK small business fund May 11, 2015 HSBC has set aside £8bn to lend to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. The bank's small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) loan offering will reach 43 areas of the country, with Scotland, Birmingham and Manchester, receiving at least £400m each. Fees on qualifying business loans worth between £1,000 and £300,000 will be waived or [...]
Tesco’s Dunnhumby could fetch over £2bn as new suitors Nielsen and WPP mull bid May 11, 2015 US data giant Nielsen is reportedly eyeing a bid for Tesco’s Dunnhumby amid a flurry of interest that could push the price tag for the company above the mooted £2bn mark. Tesco boss Dave Lewis hired Goldman Sachs earlier this year to explore a sale or partial sale of the business – which analyses the [...]
Barclays joins banks paying fines over forex-rigging scandal May 10, 2015 Barclays, RBS, JP Morgan and Citigroup are all expected to settle forex manipulation accusations with US regulators as soon as this week. Shares in the sector have been held down by uncertainty around the scale of the fines, which are expected to come in at around the £3bn mark. It comes six months [...]
RBS share price rise cuts losses as George Osborne considers bank sale May 10, 2015 George Osborne is considering selling some RBS shares this year even if the taxpayer makes a loss, as he runs out of patience with the bailed-out bank. The chancellor is understood to be weighing up the options for the future of the state-backed lender over the next two weeks. He has been buoyed by the [...]
Buyout group 3i grows appetite for Yo! Sushi May 10, 2015 Suitors circling Japanese restaurant chain Yo! Sushi have entered a second round of bidding, with private equity firm 3i understood to be one of the frontrunners in the race. Yo! Sushi’s private equity owner Quilvest hired bankers at Canaccord Genuity last year to explore a sale of the business, with a price tag of around [...]
Sirius Minerals to raise $1bn for York Potash Project May 10, 2015 Aim-listed Sirius Minerals is set to go to the market looking to raise $1bn (£647m) in funding for its York Potash Project. A spokesman for the company told City A.M. yesterday that the fundraising is dependent on the decision of the North York Moors National Park committee, which is expected to be announced on 30 [...]
Gatwick airport traffic levels soar again as report on expansion looms May 10, 2015 Passenger traffic at Gatwick airport rose for the 26th month in a row this April, with 3.2m passengers travelling through the airport last month. The busiest European route from Gatwick remained Barcelona, which saw traffic increase by 0.2 per cent from April 2014, totalling 113,200 passengers. The biggest growth came on the North Atlantic route [...]
Tesco considers selling mobile phone business May 8, 2015 Tesco could soon shed its mobile phone business as part of chief executive Dave Lewis' scaling back process following a torrid 2014. The retailer makes around £100m a year from the business it co-owns with 02, whose network the service uses. It has around 250 Tesco Mobile shops across the country. Yet according to the [...]