Dan Loeb calls Sony unit a red-headed stepchild July 30, 2013 Sony investor Dan Loeb has criticised the electronics firm for treating its entertainment division “like its red-headed stepchild”. Loeb, who is pushing Sony to sell off its film and music unit, said the business “remains poorly managed, with a famously bloated corporate structure”. In his quarterly letter to investors in the Third Point hedge fund, [...]
Casino mobile gaming firm makes its AIM debut July 30, 2013 Twentyfourseven Gaming Group (24/7), the company behind casino games for smartphones and tablets, is making its debut on London’s junior market today, as it looks to expand its presence in the booming mobile gaming market. The company said it will enter London’s alternative investment market (AIM) with 146.7m shares, giving it a market value of [...]
Vicky Pryce stripped of official honour July 30, 2013 The economist Vicky Pryce was yesterday stripped of an official honour by the Queen after being found to have brought it into disrepute. Pryce, the ex-wife of former Liberal Democrat cabinet minister Chris Huhne, will no longer be able to call herself a member of the Companion of the Order of the Bath. She received [...]
BT splits retail division into consumer and business July 30, 2013 BT yesterday said it would split its retail division into two separate companies amid an increasingly bitter broadband war with rivals. BT Retail, which posted quarterly revenues of £1.8bn last week and represents roughly 40 per cent of the groups income, will split into two entities called BT Consumer and BT Business. John Petter will [...]
Analyst arrested over alleged tips to hedge fund SAC July 30, 2013 A securities analyst accused of leaking secret information in 2009 about a potential partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft to an SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund manager and other traders has been arrested and charged in California, prosecutors said yesterday. Sandeep Aggarwal, who worked as an analyst covering technology stocks before moving to India to start [...]
Domino’s Pizza sales jump after Britons ordered in for royal birth July 30, 2013 DOMINO’S Pizza said it enjoyed a leap in sales on the day of the royal birth, as Britons stayed glued to their television sets to get their first glimpse of baby Cambridge. “Prince George drove sales up 20 per cent on the previous Monday – it had greater impact on our sales than any weather [...]
Next ups profit forecast despite volatile trading July 30, 2013 NEXT warned yesterday that British shoppers are becoming more “spontaneous”, making sales more vulnerable to short-term events such as a change in the weather or a bank holiday. In a graph released alongside its half-year results, the retailer highlighted huge swings in weekly spend, with total sales down by as much as £10m in weeks [...]
July sees retail prices plunging at fastest pace ever recorded July 30, 2013 SHOP prices shrank again in July, declining at the fastest pace since the British Retail Consortium (BRC) began measuring them six-and-a-half years ago. The BRC’s shop price index fell by 0.5 per cent over the year to July, driven by the plummeting costs of non-food items, which dropped by 2.1 per cent. Although food prices [...]
BBC media dominance may be curbed in government review July 30, 2013 THE BBC could see its powers curbed as part of a review of the rules on media plurality, the government announced yesterday. Investigations into excessive dominance of the media market do not currently look at the role of the public broadcaster. But the review, unveiled by culture secretary Maria Miller, will consider changing this on the [...]
Tullett Prebon says trading still challenging as revenues decline July 30, 2013 TULLETT Prebon reported a three per cent drop in first-half revenue yesterday, as challenging market conditions and subdued trading weighed on the interdealer broker’s business. The brokerage said revenue reached £439.8m in the six months through June, down from £455.1m a year earlier. The fall came despite a late surge in trading volumes in May [...]