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 [...]
Alibaba share price jumps as it appoints new chief executive May 7, 2015 Shares in Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba leapt more than 10 per cent in pre-market trading today after it announced it has hired a new chief exec, after months of declines in its share price. The company – often described as the "Chinese Ebay" – said Daniel Zhang, currently its chief operating officer, will take the [...]
BT share price up after profits rise 14 per cent May 7, 2015 BT’s share price has risen half a per cent, after the company revealed a 14 per cent jump in pre-tax profits, which rose to £2.6bn for the 12 months ending 31 March. The figures Despite the headline rise in profit, BT’s revenue fell two per cent to £17.9bn for the year and £4.6bn for the [...]
Strong pound leaves insurer RSA struggling May 7, 2015 The figures Insurance company RSA said today that net written premiums rose one per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015. RSA revealed it took about £1.5bn of premium income in the three months to March and expects to deliver about £380m of investment income in 2015. Why it's interesting Today's results show the recovery [...]