Portable hotel firm looks for a home on Aim April 9, 2012 SNOOZEBOX, which provides portable hotel rooms at festivals and sports events, plans to float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) by the end of the month. The firm, whose upmarket rooms offer flatscreen TVs, Wi-Fi and air conditioning, has hired Panmure Gordon to help it raise £10m to fund expansion. “I’m quite a big fan [...]
Qatar may ease Glencore’s path to Xstrata deal April 9, 2012 QATAR has built its stake in mining giant Xstrata up to five per cent, in a move that bankers said could help smooth the path of a £23bn merger with Glencore. The Qatar Investment Authority has boosted its Xstrata holding, worth £1.7bn at current prices, to five per cent through stock market purchases, up from [...]
Korea Development Bank inks deal for HSBC local retail base April 9, 2012 KOREA Development Bank, part of state-owned KDB Financial Group, said yesterday it has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy HSBC Holding’s retail businesses in South Korea. No value was given to the deal, which will see KDB acquire 11 HSBC branches, including all deposits and mortgage-lending bonds. Kang Man-soo, the chairman of the Korean [...]
Tesco facing investor pressure over strategy April 9, 2012 A MAJOR shareholder in Tesco has called on the retailer to rethink its strategy and improve its struggling domestic business. Legal & General Investment Management said the company needed to think about its capital allocation and return on capital. “It needs to think long and hard about what it wants to be — can it [...]
Sony set to cut 10,000 jobs as part of revamp April 9, 2012 TECHNOLOGY group Sony is thought to be cutting 10,000 jobs, about six per cent of its workforce, as new chief executive Kazuo Hirai looks to steer the electronics and entertainment giant back to profit after four years in the red. Investors will closely monitor a briefing on Thursday by Hirai, who formally took over this [...]
Avon calls on McCoy to be its new chief exec April 9, 2012 COSMETICS company Avon yesterday named Johnson & Johnson executive Sherilyn McCoy as its new chief executive, ending a four-month outside search for a fresh face to refocus the company and turn around sales at home and abroad. The news comes a week after the world’s largest direct seller of cosmetics rejected a $10bn (£6.3bn) takeover [...]
LLOYDS TO SLIM SAVOY DEBT EXPOSURE April 9, 2012 LLOYDS will shrink its exposure to the growing debt of London’s luxury Savoy Hotel in its new round of refinancing this year. It is understood that when the hotel seeks to roll over £230m of its debt following an expensive refurbishment, it is planning to tap up a syndicate of investors rather than going back [...]
Brasserie Bar wins £6m injection April 9, 2012 Brasserie Bar Co, the restaurant group fronted by celebrity chef Raymond Blanc has secured a £6m facility from Barclays to fund its expansion. The company, which recently acquired eight former Chez Gerard sites, plans to grow its French eatery chain Brasserie Blanc from 11 to 19 restaurants by the end of the year and a [...]
Hedgie boost in the first quarter April 9, 2012 Hedge funds enjoyed their best quarter since 2006 at the beginning of the year, according to the Hennessee group of advisers. Hennessee announced yesterday that its hedge fund index was up 0.6 per cent in March, although funds still “lagged equity markets as managers were conservatively positioned”, the group said.
The man with the Big Four in his sights April 9, 2012 THERE is much that separates BDO, Britain’s number six accountancy firm, from the so-called Big Four. One of the lesser known differences is that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO, didn’t go to university, instead taking a training place at the accountant immediately after his A-Levels in 1987. It certainly hasn’t held him back. [...]