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 [...]
Rolls Royce hit with £350m forex blow May 8, 2015 Rolls-Royce expects to see its restructuring efforts bear fruit in the second half of the financial year, but expects a massive forex hit of £350m. The £350m is a translation effect: from translating revenues back into pounds to report results. This creates a year on year differences, depending on the behaviour of currencies during that [...]
BG Group pre-tax profit plunges 62 per cent on plummeting oil prices May 8, 2015 The figures BG Group said pre-tax profit plunged 62 per cent to $715m (£463m) in the first quarter, down from $1.9bn during the first quarter a year earlier. Total earnings were $233m, including a post-tax loss of $332m on disposals, re-measurements and impairments in the first quarter of 2015. This was down from $1.1bn and included a post-tax loss [...]
Fitbit files for $100m IPO May 7, 2015 Fitbit, the company behind the cult fitness traffic device, has filed for a $100m IPO. The company was vague on the details – it didn't disclose how much it intended to float for, or what its plans are for the proceeds. But the company's filing did show it sold 10.9m devices last year, with another [...]