King of Soho Paul Raymond’s London property empire rises in value to £565m August 23, 2015 Soho Estates, the West End property empire of the late porn baron Paul Raymond, saw the value of its assets rise eight per cent to £565.6m last year. Raymond left the bulk of his estate to his granddaughters Fawn James, a director, and India James when he died in 2008, aged 82. The [...]
UK landlords hold onto property for longer: Average time to sell a rental home rises to 17 years August 23, 2015 Landlords are holding on to properties for longer than they were before the last recession, with the average time between a landlord buying and selling a property rising by five years since 2007, according to lettings giant Countrywide. The company, which runs 1,300 branches under 48 brands including Hamptons International, said that as well [...]
Luxury yacht builder Pendennis sails into rough waters as expansion plans dent its profits August 23, 2015 Luxury yacht builder Pendennis has said that sales and profits dipped last year as it invested millions of pounds in refurbishing and expanding its shipyard in Falmouth, Cornwall. The 27-year-old company, which designs, builds and renovates superyachts for private clients, reported pre-tax profits of £2.2m in 2014 – down 12 per cent on the previous [...]
Online personal styling service Thread is in fashion as investors pump $8m into one of the UK’s hottest start-ups August 23, 2015 Men’s fashion start-up Thread has closed a Series A funding round, raising $8m (£5m) from investors including the co-founders of Google’s DeepMind and a former president of Saks Fifth Avenue. Demmis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, who along with Shane Legg sold DeepMind to Google in 2014, and Andrew Jennings, previously of Saks Fifth Avenue, were [...]
British American Tobacco to put its first quitting aid Voke on the market August 23, 2015 British American Tobacco’s (BAT) first anti-smoking product, Voke, will arrive in shops at the end of the year, marking a victory for BAT over its rivals such as Imperial Tobacco who have similar products in development. BAT was granted regulatory approval in 2014 by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA). The product will [...]
Competition heats up for Tesco’s Korea unit ahead of Monday deadline August 23, 2015 Competition for Tesco's South Korean unit Homeplus valued at about £4bn is heating up ahead of the deadline for final bids on Monday. Media reports suggest that private equity firms have formed three separate teams to bid for the supermarket's largest operation outside of the UK. Asia-based Affinity Equity Partners has allied with US private [...]
Dragon Oil share price muted after Enoc takeover clears final hurdle August 23, 2015 Emirates National Oil Company's (Enoc) bid for Ireland-based Dragon Oil has cleared its final hurdle today. In a statement, Dragon Oil said it will delist from the Dublin and London stock exchanges on 7 September, after Enoc received enough acceptances of its £4bn offer to compulsorily acquire any remaining shares in the Irish explorer. Enoc won its [...]
Chaos on European markets as FTSE 100 tumbles, while S&P 500 crashes below 2,000 points August 21, 2015 The FTSE 100 clocked its biggest weekly loss this year, falling 2.8 per cent to 6,187.6 points, while US markets were equally hit, with the S&P 500 crashing below 2,000 for the first time since February. Meanwhile, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 closed down three per cent, its worst one-day fall since October. Britain's top share [...]
Ryanair to appeal against court ruling allowing passengers to claim delay compensation after two years August 21, 2015 Ryanair will appeal against a court ruling that would allow passengers six years to claim money back from the airline if their flight is delayed. The Manchester County Court earlier today ruled that the low-cost airline could not impose a two year limit on passengers making a claim for flight delay compensation. Read more: Ryanair [...]
WTI crude oil price is tumbling towards $40 a barrel as it sets up for second longest losing streak in over 30 years August 21, 2015 US oil price benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude spent the afternoon plummeting towards the $40 a barrel mark, its lowest level since 2008. In late afternoon trading, the benchmark was hovering around $40.16 a barrel. This comes as WTI is set to hit its second-longest losing streak in more than 30 years, falling more [...]