Terra Firma looks to take Infinis to market September 26, 2013 INFINIS, the renewable power generator backed by Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma, yesterday confirmed that it is considering an initial public offering, with former SSE executive Ian Marchant as chairman. It is understood that a concrete announcement will be made in the next few weeks, with the aim of raising £1.5bn and listing on [...]
Lord Ashcroft sells Restore stake for £40m September 26, 2013 LORD Ashcroft, the billionaire former Conservative party treasurer, yesterday sold most of his stake in Aim-listed office services firm Restore for £40m. Geraldton, his investment vehicle, reduced its 43.6 per cent holding to below three per cent in a placing to institutional investors yesterday morning. Ashcroft is expected to have made a healthy profit from backing [...]
New HS2 chair hopes to speed up construction on the railway September 26, 2013 THE NEW chairman of High Speed 2 hopes to get construction on the railway started sooner than planned, as he works to win round politicians and the public on the controversial project. Sir David Higgins, who will start in January, said he does not understand “why it needs to take so long – and time [...]
Accenture tops expectations as fees increase September 26, 2013 ACCENTURE yesterday reported record annual revenue figures as its core consulting business returned to growth after a year of decline. The company saw income of $28.6bn (£17.86bn) for the twelve months ending 31 August, an increase of three per cent on the previous year. Net income for the period hit $3.55bn, up from $2.82bn. This was largely [...]
Digital letdown sees Ladbrokes shares tumble September 26, 2013 LADBROKES saw its share price plummet more than seven per cent yesterday as it warned that its digital division would miss profit forecasts. The bookmaker said that its digital division’s profits would be between £10m and £14m for the year, compared with a consensus market forecast of £27.5m. “Our digital earnings have been disappointing reflecting [...]
Inside Track: Global funds still have the appetite for UK’s new issues September 26, 2013 IT’S LIKE the floodgates have opened. Dead for so long, the London new issues market is now buzzing with intentions to float, rumours of upcoming floats and talk of dual track processes where advisers start a float only to sell to a trade buyer if a better offer comes up. Yesterday there was news of [...]
Analyst Views: Does Ladbrokes’ profit warning change your view on the company? September 26, 2013 KARL BURNS PANMURE GORDON“Within retail the business has seen poor results leading to lower gross win margins, while in online it is yet to see a discernible benefit from the integration of Playtech and the integration process is unlikely to complete by early 2014 as Ladbrokes migrates from Micro-gaming. SIMON DAVIES CANACCORD GENUITY“The real disappointment [...]
Watchdog fines Clydesdale for account mix-up September 26, 2013 CLYDESDALE Bank is paying £42m in a fine and compensation to customers after a mix-up in the amount it charged more than 40,000 mortgage clients. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Clydesdale, owned by National Australia Bank, £8.9m for the error, which dated back several years. Clydesdale discovered in April 2009 it had miscalculated the [...]
Counterparties get $7.8bn back five years on from Lehman crash September 26, 2013 COUNTERPARTIES who lost out on trades with Lehman Brothers when the investment bank filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 received the first tranche of their money back yesterday. Administrators PwC announced the $7.8bn (£4.9bn) repayment, which amounts to 100 per cent of the claims made by a group known as the Omnibus Trust. More payments [...]
Google lawsuit over small ads set to go ahead September 26, 2013 A FEDERAL judge last night refused to dismiss most of a lawsuit against Google over allegations the company improperly scanned the content of customers’ emails in order to place ads. US district Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California ruled that the proposed class action lawsuit against Google can proceed. She rejected Google’s argument that [...]