Sainsbury’s set for £1.3bn Argos deal: Supermarket and Home Retail Group could announce agreement today February 1, 2016 Sainsbury's is close to clinching a £1.3bn deal to buy Home Retail Group after improving its offer ahead of today’s deadline. The supermarket chain made an initial bid of around £1bn for the Argos owner in November, saying a combination of the two businesses would create a retail empire to rival John Lewis and Amazon. [...]
Google share price soars in after hours trading as parent company Alphabet’s revenue rises February 1, 2016 Google jumped as much as 8.4 per cent to $813 per share in after hours trading, putting it on course to oust Apple as the world's most valuable company by market capitalisation when regular trading resumes tomorrow. Google's new parent company Alphabet reported annual revenue rose 18 per cent to $21.33bn (£14.8bn) in the three months ended December 31. [...]
S&P cuts Shell’s rating and warns on other oil companies BP, Eni, Repsol, Statoil and Total February 1, 2016 Standard & Poor's (S&P) today cut Royal Dutch Shell's credit rating, while warning that there's a "significant likelihood" those of several other European oil firms could follow. "We lowered our ratings on Royal Dutch Shell PLC to 'A+/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+' and placed the long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications," S&P said in a statement today. [...]
Zoopla poaches Notonthehighstreet.com’s finance chief Andy Botha February 1, 2016 Zoopla Property Group has gone shopping at Notonthehighstreet.com after poaching the online retailer's chief commercial & financial officer Andy Botha. Botha will jump ship and take on the role of chief financial officer at Zoopla on 18 April, the online property portal said. He will take over from Stephen Morana, who announced his intention to step down last month. Botha joined Notonthehighstreet.com in 2013 [...]
Standard & Poor’s downgrades BHP Billiton and places ratings on watch due to low commodity prices February 1, 2016 The ongoing commodities rout has prompted ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) to lower its long term credit ratings on mining firm BHP Billiton from A+ to A, and place the company on CreditWatch with "negative implications". S&P said its decision to downgrade the miner followed a "recent update to our price assumptions for most commodities, [...]
Genel and Gulf Keystone Petroleum share price: Oil firms rise as KRG boosts confidence February 1, 2016 Shares in London-listed oil firms Genel and Gulf Keystone Petroleum jumped today on the news that they could recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in overdue payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Shares in Gulf Keystone rose as much as 43.43 per cent to 17.57p per share this afternoon, while Genel gained as much as 6.75 per cent to 111.55p this [...]
Clydesdale clears final legal hurdle ahead of demerger and IPO tomorrow February 1, 2016 Australian courts have approved the sale of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks, one day before the banking business is expected to begin conditional trading in London. National Australia Bank (NAB), which still owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks (CYBG), said overnight that the CYBG demerger had been approved by Supreme Court of Victoria. NAB shareholders voted in favour of the [...]
Murgitroyd Group share price up as patent company reports boosts to revenue and profit for its six months ended November 2015 February 1, 2016 Murgitroyd Group has today revealed profit before tax of £2.1m for its six months ended November 2015, up 6.6 per cent from just under £2m in 2014. The patent and trademark legal services company also announced that it had seen revenue grow by 5.7 per cent to £20.4m, up from £19.3m in 2014. Share price for [...]
Cherie Blair’s firm Omnia leads legal battle against government’s buy-to-let tax February 1, 2016 Cherie Blair is set to challenge the government in court over controversial tax relief changes for buy-to-let landlords, arguing that it breaches human rights. Omnia Strategy, the law firm founded by the wife of former Labour Prime Minister Cherie Blair, has sent a letter to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on behalf of landlords Steve [...]
Boots to cut up to 350 jobs as part of plans to simplify chemist business February 1, 2016 Boots is to cut between 300 and 350 managerial roles from its UK stores as part of a wider move to simplify the business. The chemist, which was bought by Walgreens in 2014, has started consultation with its assistant store managers in the larger stores across the country. Although it admitted some of the job cuts would come [...]