Hedgies demand cashback from UK supermarkets January 26, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest supermarkets are coming under pressure from a US hedge fund to split their vast property empire to drive up value for shareholders. Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are all being asked to replicate a model used by one of Canada’s largest supermarkets, Loblaw Companies, to put some of its property into a real estate [...]
Game’s market share boosted by Playstation 4 and Xbox One January 26, 2014 THE LAUNCH of Sony’s latest console, the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One at the end of last year has helped boost retailer Game’s share of the entertainment market, new research shows. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel released today show that Game claimed eight per cent of the market in the 12 weeks to 22 [...]
Pru joins Legal and General in building spree January 26, 2014 THE PRUDENTIAL is financing the construction of 1,000 new homes to be built by housing associations, the insurer said over the weekend. The scheme follows Legal and General’s announcement last week that it is willing to spend £5bn over the next decade building five new towns across the country. And the plan comes as the [...]
Hedge fund takes stake as UBM continues chief executive search January 26, 2014 HENGISTBURY Investment Partners, the hedge fund set up in 2011 by The Children’s Investment Fund former senior partner Stuart Powers, has reportedly taken a 5.2 per cent stake in UBM. The hedge fund is now the second largest investor in the events and publishing company, according to a report in The Sunday Times. UBM is [...]
Randgold boss warns on mine output in 2014 January 26, 2014 PRODUCTION from the Tongon gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire will miss management’s expectations in 2014, the chief executive of FTSE 100-quoted miner Randgold Resources has admitted. The Tongon mine is expected to produce 260,000 ounces this year, which is an increase on 2013’s gold output but slightly behind the internal target, Mark Bristow told a [...]
Audley’s Treger looks to float mining venture January 26, 2014 AUDLEY Capital, the natural resources investment firm co-founded by industry veteran Julian Treger, is joining forces with a former Anglo American executive to float a new mining venture later this year. Activist investor Treger and John MacKenzie, who ran FTSE 100-listed Anglo American’s copper division until last year, are looking to buy mining companies worth [...]
Bottom Line: BSkyB’s forecast still uncertain January 26, 2014 WHILE headlines surrounding BSkyB’s second quarter results on Thursday will certainly centre around an expected drop in profits – which analysts say could be as much as 10 per cent – the escalating cost of sports rights and the uncertainty of hanging on to the most precious of those rights continues to cast a shadow [...]
RP Martin trader shot at station January 26, 2014 A trader with brokerage firm RP Martin was shot outside of an Essex railway station on Friday in what police believe was a “deliberately targeted” assault. Robin Clark was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries after being shot in the leg by a masked gunman as he went to catch an early train [...]
Big data next challenge for execs January 26, 2014 Boardrooms and senior executives are increasingly overwhelmed with data that they have no idea how to analyse, according to a report from KPMG. Some 85 per cent of finance and information chiefs from large multi-national firms with annual revenues of over £600m said that they do not know how to analyse the data they collect. [...]
E-cigarettes ban for under-18s January 26, 2014 Under-18s are to be banned from buying electronic cigarettes under new plans by the government that will also make it illegal for adults to buy cigarettes for children. The law, which will be introduced next week as an amendment to the Children and Families Bill, is aimed at clamping down on teenage smoking. It also [...]