Fitness First to close branches April 24, 2012 ■ Fitness First, the debt-laden gym chain, could sell or close up to a third of its British sites after agreeing a deal with its largest lenders. The firm has signed a three month waiver with Oaktree and Marathon which spares it from having to pay its £18m quarterly interest bill immediately. The debt for [...]
Profits increase at AT&T April 24, 2012 ■ AT&T reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, sending its stock up as much as four per cent, as a decline in iPhone sales reduced the amount of cash it had to pay Apple and boosted its margins. Apple shares fell almost two per cent after AT&T also said its numbers should improve further in [...]
Lloyds to issue credit easing bond April 24, 2012 ■ Lloyds said yesterday that it will soon test market appetite for a partially government-guaranteed bond under the auspices of the Treasury’s credit easing programme. It has appointed investment bankers from its own wholesale division to manage the deal, but has not yet decided on how much it will issue. One part of the bond [...]
Ken pledges to take personal control of Met April 24, 2012 LABOUR’S Ken Livingstone yesterday promised to take “full responsibility” for policing and crime in London if he is elected, saying Boris Johnson had sent the “wrong message” by resigning from the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) after just ten meetings. The Conservative Mayor promised to “take responsibility for crime and chair the MPA” in his 2008 [...]
Labour’s Lord Winston suggests voters should avoid Livingstone April 24, 2012 PROMINENT Labour peer Lord Winston yesterday warned voters to beware “tricky” Ken Livingstone due to his “extremely unhealthy” views, the second time a leading party member has criticised its mayor candidate in the last week. The professor, a TV personality and prominent campaigner, will have dealt a blow to Livingstone’s campaign with his comments. “I don’t really [...]
Oxford loses place to LSE April 24, 2012 THE LONDON School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has leapfrogged Oxford to be ranked the second best university in the latest league tables, released yesterday. The LSE also jumped above London’s Imperial College, moving from fourth to second place. Cambridge maintained its top spot in the Complete University Guide, which ranks higher education colleges [...]
£2.5bn London IPO for Russian phone network April 24, 2012 RUSSIAN mobile phone network MegaFon is set to launch the largest London IPO of the last year, raising up to $4bn (£2.5bn). Investors yesterday announced that they had reached an agreement to float 20 per cent of the firm “as soon as practically possible”, according to Scandinavian telecoms firm and shareholder Teliasonera. It is understood [...]
Casino and poker pushes 888 to highest ever monthly revenues April 24, 2012 BRITISH online gaming company 888 Holdings said yesterday that first-quarter revenue rose 25 per cent as more people opted to use its services to gamble online amid an economic slowdown. The company had 11.3m casino, poker and sport real money registered customer accounts as of 31 March, an increase of 23 per cent from a [...]
Reed Elsevier shares climb on promising first quarter update April 24, 2012 REED Elsevier yesterday warned that its legal and professional division LexisNexis, which competes with Thomson Reuters, has limited scope for short term growth. But the publishing and events group said it had a positive growth outlook for 2012 partly due to growing demand for its electronic products and tools. The Anglo-Dutch company reported strong portfolio [...]
Panmure loss widens after deal drought April 24, 2012 SHARES in Panmure Gordon fell by a sixth yesterday after it posted a fourfold increase in losses. The broker said losses at its US arm ThinkEquity, which the company is selling to ThinkEquity’s management, had pushed overall group losses for the year ending December 2011 to £31.5m, worse than a 2010 loss of £7.4m. Panmure [...]