Edwards up for sale just a year after $1bn float August 18, 2013 BRITISH technology firm Edwards, which listed in the US after struggling to float in London, is in talks about a potential sale to Swedish group Atlas Copco, it was reported this weekend. A $1bn (£640m) sale of the company would end a brief spell as a public firm for the Crawley-based vacuum pump manufacturer, [...]
Bottom Line: When making a brand new start of it doesn’t work August 18, 2013 WHEN Edwards’ planned London flotation was cancelled in April 2011, the markets barely even feigned surprise. The vacuum technology firm’s pulled initial public offering (IPO) came amid a period of market volatility and – Glencore aside – little appetite for new listings. It was hardly surprising that investors didn’t clamber over each other to [...]
Chief of Greek privatisation firm dismissed over holiday flight August 18, 2013 GREECE dismissed the chairman of its privatisation agency yesterday after a newspaper exposed how he used the private plane of a businessman who had just bought a state company to go on holiday. Stelios Stavridis is the second head of HRADF to leave in less than six months, reigniting controversy around Greece’s ailing privatisation programme, [...]
Profits plummet one third for top UK businesses August 18, 2013 DESPITE a rise in revenues, some of the UK’s top companies saw profits plunge in the year to March, slumping by a total of 33.8 per cent in comparison to 2012. In the 12 months up to the end of the first quarter, 62 of the country’s biggest firms earned £16.6bn in profit after tax, [...]
£100bn more of assets up for sale at Lloyds August 18, 2013 LLOYDS Banking Group is expected to announce the sale of its German insurance unit this week, taking its disposals so far close to the £200bn mark. The sale means the state-backed lender is roughly two-thirds of the way through its plan to sell off non-core assets, with around £100bn of assets left to sell. The [...]
RBS delays branch bidding to heighten competition in sale August 18, 2013 BIDDING to take over 316 branches of RBS has been delayed to allow all the competing buyers to get their finances in order, sources close to the negotiations told City A.M. Bids from a group led by Corsair Capital, a consortium headed by AnaCap and Blackstone as well as the W&G Investments Group all submitted [...]
Crowdfunding to be put under the microscope by City watchdog August 18, 2013 THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City watchdog, will push to regulate online crowdfunding sites next year amid concerns about customer safeguards in the fast growing sector. Crowdfunding websites allow businesses to tap people for small investments in standalone projects. Investors who use sites regulated by the FCA are protected by a host of regulations [...]
Income squeeze runs on despite boost to growth August 18, 2013 DISPOSABLE incomes for households are still declining, despite recent growth in the economy, and now stand £1 per week lower than they did in July last year. According to Asda’s income tracker, the average household had £160 per week of disposable income last month, in comparison to £161 in July 2012, and £165 at the [...]
Weather hits internet retail as high streets boosted by heat August 18, 2013 ONLINE sales fell two per cent in July, in a reversal of fortunes for internet retailers as shoppers returned to high streets during the heatwave. According to the IMRG Capgemini retail index for July, sales were up by nine per cent in the 12 months to July, but dipped in the month itself, making it [...]
Industry casts doubts over rebalancing August 18, 2013 THE CONFEDERATION of British Industry (CBI) today raised its forecasts for growth, alongside a warning that investment and trade are not picking up quickly enough. The industry body now expects economic growth of 1.2 per cent this year, followed by 2.3 per cent in 2014, but raised concerns about the way in which consumption was [...]