Luton Airport snapped up by Aena and Axa August 1, 2013 LUTON Airport is set to expand after the rights to run the airport were snapped up by Spanish infrastructure group Aena and Axa’s private equity arm. Aena has teamed up with Axa to buy the remaining 90 per cent from fellow Spanish firm Abertis in a deal worth £433m. State-owned Aena already held 10 per [...]
Equistone takes a bite out of Charles & Alice August 1, 2013 EQUISTONE Partners, the private equity firm carved out of Barclays two years ago, yesterday backed a buyout of upmarket French dessert maker Charles & Alice Group. The deal, Equistone’s third French acquisition this year, will see the firm finance a secondary management buyout (MBO) led by Charles & Alice’s president Thierry Goubault. Terms were not [...]
Thomas Cook plots more cost cuts as summer holiday sales match forecasts August 1, 2013 THOMAS Cook’s restructuring efforts yielded a small profit in the third quarter, and cost cuts are ahead of schedule, the firm said yesterday. The travel group posted earnings before interest and tax of £1m, compared to a £45m loss in the same period last year. The firm completed a £1.6bn refinancing in the quarter, helping [...]
Stock Exchange birthday party for Winterflood August 1, 2013 CITY veteran Brian Winterflood – founder of Winterflood Securities – opened trading at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) bright and early yesterday morning. The opening bells were ringing to celebrate the firm’s milestone 25th anniversary. And The Capitalist hears that this was not the only birthday that Winterflood will be celebrating this year – 2013 [...]
The new peers are in the House August 1, 2013 THE CAPITALIST noticed a few familiar City faces among the list of 30 new peers who were welcomed to the House of Lords yesterday. Former executive director of corporate and legal affairs at Tesco Lucy Neville-Rolfe made the list, as did Charles Allen, the ex-boss of ITV, who was also appointed chairman of the executive board [...]
Vodafone reshuffles European team to revive its online push August 1, 2013 VODAFONE is to merge its northern and southern European units into one division to be led by Philipp Humm, to help the mobile operator sharpen its new focus on rolling out internet services across the region. Faced with increasing consumer demand for internet access via smartphones and tablets, the world’s second-largest mobile operator has increased [...]
UK to spend £66m on offshore wind August 1, 2013 The government has pledged to spend £66m on offshore wind developments, saying it will help the industry create 30,000 jobs and contribute £7bn to the economy by 2020. The strategy aims to improve the UK industry’s supply chain so that more manufacturing is done here, supporting the growth of jobs and work. “Offshore wind is [...]
Round one to Sky in battle with BT August 1, 2013 Communications regulator Ofcom dealt a blow to BT yesterday, ruling that it is not ready to force Sky to allow its sports channels to be shown on BT’s new TV service. The decision came on the day that BT launched its new TV sports channel, BT Sport, with presenter Jake Humphrey leading the way last night. [...]
More Than owner RSA warns of uncertainty over car insurance August 1, 2013 INSURER RSA yesterday warned that the UK car insurance market remains “very uncertain”, as firms wait to see whether new rules designed to reduce spurious claims are successful. “Some of the benefits have been pre-empted by price reductions,” RSA chief executive Simon Lee told City A.M. “Depending on how effective the reforms are, this will affect pricing in the coming [...]
AstraZeneca hit by high costs as patents expire August 1, 2013 DRUG manufacturer AstraZeneca yesterday warned of higher costs in 2013 as it continues to invest despite a slump in sales caused by a wave of patent expiries on key medicines. The prediction that operating costs will now increase by a low-to-mid single digit percentage rate this year amounts to an effective cut in earnings guidance, [...]