SuperGroup in £125m flotation plan February 15, 2010 FASHION company SuperGroup is is set to launch a £125m stock market flotation. The move comes after a series of other companies, including fellow fashion retailer New Look, decided to shelve their planned initial public offerings (IPOs) last week. SuperGroup owns the Superdry brand sported by celebrities such as David Beckham and High School Musical [...]
House of Fraser celebrates sales January 10, 2010 Own-brand labels helped department store group House of Fraser to surging Christmas sales. Like-for-like sales rose 7.1 per cent in the eight weeks to 2 January, following a 1.5 per cent fall during the same period a year ago. Chief executive John King said the figures meant House of Fraser was a festive winner, putting [...]
Baugur ends in liquidation February 7, 2010 THE UK arm of Icelandic retail investor Baugur has finally gone into voluntary liquidation, offering a glimmer of hope to its creditors and former employees. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has looked after the group’s affairs since it collapsed a year ago, said it had recovered funds which would be distributed to unsecured lenders. PwC freed up £1.3m [...]
Big City banks must be allowed to grow again February 7, 2010 TOMORROW, Barclays chief executive John Varley will become the latest business leader to appear before the Treasury Committee’s inquiry into how to solve the problem of banks that are deemed too important – or too large – to fail. Following President Obama’s recent proposals, this is a hot topic at the moment and the committee’s [...]
CITY FIRMS SET TO ESCAPE SUPER TAX December 21, 2009 INDEPENDENT insurers, asset managers and stockbrokers in the City can breathe a sigh of relief today after the government ended almost a fortnight of tense speculation by confirming they will not be subject to its super-tax on bank bonuses. Under the new rules, which will still see banks charged at a rate of 50 per [...]
DO YOU WELCOME CONFIRMATION OF THE BREAK-UPS? November 3, 2009 PAUL MUMFORD CAVENDISH AM“The agreement to limit cash bonuses at both banks is evidently a political gesture rather than a move designed to tackle the structure of the financial system or remuneration itself.” JOHN CRIDLAND CBI“The priorities for the government must be financial stability and reduced risk for the taxpayer. It has done the right [...]
Frasers bucks retail misery September 9, 2009 DEPARTMENT store chain House of Fraser yesterday revealed that underlying profits jumped over the first half of the year as sales strengthened despite the challenging retail environment. House of Fraser, which was taken private in 2006 by a consortium that included now-bust Icelandic investor Baugur, Scots entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter and the firm’s chairman Don [...]
Turner warns break-ups to hit stability November 2, 2009 THE forced break up of the “too big to fail” banks into retail and casino institutions would actually increase instability in the financial sector and worsen the economic impact of future banking crises, the City watchdog warned yesterday. Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said proposals to separate traditional banking operations [...]
Liberty launches a second fundraising September 23, 2009 SHOPPING centre operator Liberty International yesterday rattled analysts and investors after tapping shareholders for the second time this year in a £280.5m fundraising. The group announced a placing of 56.1m shares, representing 9.9 per cent of Liberty issued share capital, at 500p each. The price is an 11.3 per cent discount to Tuesday’s closing price. [...]
Northern Rock break-up is good for competition November 1, 2009 Leaving the debate over who should be the first “President of the EU” aside, the EU Commission’s recent decision to allow the break-up of Northern Rock into separate “good” and “bad” banks was a major step forward to restoring healthy competition in the banking sector. Restructuring Northern Rock and selling off its viable parts will [...]