Wolseley chief Ian Meakins retiring after seven years, replaced by John Martin January 18, 2016 Ian Meakins, chief executive of struggling UK plumbing and heating group Wolseley, has announced plans to retire after seven years in the role. Meakins, who will leave Wolseley in August, will be replaced by current chief financial officer John Martin. The role of chief financial officer will be taken on by Simon Nicholls, currently at aerospace [...]
Home Retail Group share price soars on announcing it will return £200m to shareholders with Wesfarmers to buy Homebase for £340m January 18, 2016 Home Retail Group has announced it will be returning £200m to shareholders, following the sale of its Homebase chain to one of Australia’s biggest listed companies. The British retail group has confirmed reports it will sell the DIY chain to Australian Wesfarmers for £340m. Wesfarmers, which already owns DIY supplier Bunnings, said it will spend another £242m [...]
Clydesdale Bank reveals cut-price IPO price range and confirms when it will list on the London Stock Exchange January 18, 2016 Clydesdale Bank’s London float is drawing near: the bank has revealed the price range of its upcoming IPO will be 175p-235p per share. The British lender, currently owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), confirmed rumoured plans for a demerger and initial public offering last month, announcing its intention to float on both the London and Australian stock [...]
Panmure storms into the top five London advisors January 18, 2016 Small cap specialist broker Panmure Gordon has broken into the top five City advisers chart this morning as financial data publisher Adviser Rankings unveiled its tenth annual corporate advisers rankings for 2015. The firm soared five places up the table, jumping from tenth in 2014. Panmure also managed to hold onto its third place position [...]
Time to give challengers a fair chance: Top City regulator urged to increase competition among banks January 18, 2016 The City's top regulator is being urged by to “do whatever is required” to increase competition in the banking sector by reducing entry barriers for challenger banks. Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie revealed today that he has written to Andrew Bailey, deputy governor at the Bank of England, asking for the prudential regulation authority [...]
Low inflation in 2015 battered businesses as consumers rejoiced January 18, 2016 Businesses lost out to the tune of £16.8bn last year due to low inflation, new research given to City A.M. shows. Prices were only 0.1 per cent higher in November than a year ago, well below the Bank of England’s two per cent inflation target, and hovered around zero per cent for most of 2015. [...]
Lack of finance keeps smaller housebuilders trailing behind their bigger rivals January 18, 2016 Profits at the top UK housebuilders may have hit a pre-crisis high but their smaller rivals are still struggling to recover as funding for larger projects remains scarce, new research suggests. A construction boom has helped profit margins at larger housebuilders reach an average of 11.7 per cent for 2015 compared to their 2007 peak of 11.2 [...]
UK footfall slumps in December as Britons spend Christmas online January 18, 2016 Britain's high streets suffered their biggest drop in footfall in over a year in December, as Britons shunned stores in favour of buying Christmas presents online. Traffic fell by four per cent year-on-year, which is far greater than the drop of 1.8 per cent in December 2014 and marked the biggest drop since November that same [...]
Equistone takes £100m prime cut of Argentinian steak house Gaucho January 17, 2016 The Gaucho chain of Argentinian steak restaurants has been snapped up by a hungry buyout firm in a deal thought to be worth around £100m. Equistone, the private equity firm previously owned by Barclays, is said to have beaten other interested suitors to buy a majority stake in the chain. Gaucho’s founder, the Dutch entrepreneur Zeev [...]
Clydesdale Bank gears up for next month’s IPO with roadshow and expected price range this week January 17, 2016 Clydesdale Bank is set to reveal the price range of its London listing this week, with investors expecting shares to be offered at a discount from the bank’s book value of between £2bn and 2.5bn. The British banking business, which is currently owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), announced its intention to float on both [...]