Argos owner Home retail group share price jumps amid takeover talk November 23, 2015 Shares in Home Retail Group shot to the top of the FTSE 250 today, amid speculation that the Argos owner is being circled by a number of private equity firms. Shares in Milton Keynes-based company, which also owns Homebase, jumped as much as seven per cent to 110.6p per share in early morning trading. However, Home Retail Group has still lost nearly half [...]
Small food suppliers hit the hardest by supermarket price wars November 23, 2015 Britain's small food manufacturers have emerged as the biggest casualties of the supermarket price wars, according to new research out today that reveals how the gap between the profit margins of the suppliers and their bigger competitors is widening. According to law firm EMW, profit margins at small to medium-sized manufacturers – those with less [...]
Christmas spending to hit £16.5bn as 60pc of Brits head to discounters for their festive food shop November 23, 2015 Britons are feeling a bit more generous this Christmas than they were last year thanks to improved economic conditions and higher wages, new figures show, with spending set to reach £16.5bn over the festive season. Travelodge’s annual Christmas report, which surveyed the spending habits of over 3,000 people, found that households expect to spend an average of [...]
City Moves for 23 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 22, 2015 TISA The financial services membership organisation has appointed Kenn Taylor to its retirement policy and technical team. He has 30 years’ industry experience, most recently leading consulting teams with Troika, Navigant and Grant Thornton. THERIUM CAPITAL The third party litigation funder has appointed Timothy Mayer and Nicholas Moore as principals in its investment team. They [...]
Deutsche Bank eyes further job cuts in London to reduce costs November 22, 2015 DEUTSCHE Bank could be about to cut 1,000 more jobs in London as it further scales back on it’s investment bank. Traders, back-office staff and fixed income specialists at the bank could be given redundancy notices in the new year, the Sunday Times reported. Earlier this month Deutsche confirmed ex-Goldman Sachs banker Alasdair Warren will [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: What is Civilised Saturday? November 21, 2015 Last year, US import Black Friday bought chaos to Britain’s high streets. Frenzied shoppers hurled themselves into stacks of discount goods, brawls broke out and arrests were made as shop aisles descended into their own kind of hellscape. This year, independent book stores across the UK will take on the seemingly insurmountable task of bringing [...]
Glencore turns to Libyan oil to shore up balance sheet November 21, 2015 Glencore has clinched a deal to buy around half of the oil Libya is currently exporting, as part of the mining and commodities trader's bid to turn its fortunes around. The arrangement with Libya's state-run National Oil Corporation has been running since September, market sources told Reuters. It leaves Glencore responsible for loaning and finding buyers for crude [...]
Glencore share price gives up gains November 21, 2015 Shares in troubled Glencore closed down 1.6 per cent to 90.12p per share today, after suddenly slipping into the red this afternoon. This came despite the announcement that board member and former Morgan Stanley boss John Mack has bought 500,000 shares in the company. The company's shares had risen for the third consecutive day at [...]
Npower could be sold off by parent company German utility RWE November 21, 2015 German utility company RWE could sell off Npower if it can't find a way to turn the struggling business around. Bernhard Guenther, RWE's chief financial officer, told Reuters during an interview that it will take at least until 2017 to return the British energy firm to profit, and investors are questioning whether it's worth holding onto. "We're not [...]
Nike share prices jumps as sportswear giant announces $12bn share buyback programme and dividend increase November 20, 2015 Nike's share price opened five per cent higher on the New York Stock Exchange today after the sportswear titan announced it would be hiking its dividend by 14 per cent. Investors, also cheered by a $12bn (£7.9bn) share buyback programme and a two-for-one stock split, reacted with gusto to the new 32 cents per share [...]