Bargain Britain: UK firms under siege by foreign takeovers June 12, 2025 The London Stock Exchange has suffered a bruising week as private equity firms and foreign giants continue to snap up British bargains. Markets were hit with a double blow on Wednesday after Canadian consultancy giant acquired engineering firm Ricardo and KKR returned with a final bid for GP Landlord Assura. Assura has recommended a cash [...]
Evri to ramp up courier workforce after DHL partnership June 9, 2025 Evri is planning to hire 5,000 couriers in a fresh recruitment drive as the parcel giant takes on rivals after entering the business letter market. The Yorkshire-based firm recently announced it was joining forces with DHL’s UK ecommerce arm to form one of the country’s biggest delivery firms. It said the new roles would bring [...]
‘Governance horror-show’: AVI hits out at takeover plan from Dan Loeb-backed Third Point May 21, 2025 A major shareholder of a London-listed business backed by New York hedge fund manager Dan Loeb has hit out at its planned takeover of a US insurer. AVI, which controls a 7.1 per cent share of Third Point Investors, described its takeover proposal as a “governance horror-show”. “Third Point Investors has for some time been [...]
Smiths Group: Shares jumps as demerger on track May 20, 2025 British engineering firm Smiths Group posted a boost to revenue in the third quarter as it progressed on demerger plans. The group’s revenue jumped 10.6 per cent on the back of “strong performance and momentum in the order book”. Shares in the group rose over two per cent to 2,100p during early trading on Tuesday. [...]
Vodafone swings to loss after €4.5bn impairment blow May 20, 2025 Vodafone has swung to a loss after recording a €4.5bn (£3.8bn) impairment hit amid the continued poor performance of its German business. The telecoms giant posted a pre-tax loss of €1.4bn for the year to end March, compared to a profit of €1.6bn the previous year. Vodafone said the impairment charges “reflect management’s latest assessment [...]
Package deal: Evri to merge with DHL ecommerce arm May 14, 2025 Parcel delivery company Evri is set to merge with DHL eCommerce UK, the e-commerce logistics specialist of DHL Group, in yet another example of consolidation in the sector. The merged Evri business is set to deliver over a billion parcels and a further billion business letters annually, with 30,000 couriers and 12,000 office staff, DHL [...]
Virgin Media O2 to create £1.4bn giant in mega deal May 12, 2025 Virgin Media O2 has announced plans to create a new communications and IT giant which is expected to turn over around £1.4bn. The move will see Virgin Media O2 and Daisy Group combine their direct B2B (business to business) operations. Virgin Media O2 is to own 70 per cent of the new entity, with Lancashire-headquartered [...]
Kingsmill-owner ABF confirms merger talks with Hovis May 6, 2025 Kingsmill-owner ABF has confirmed it is in talks to merge with Hovis in what would become Britain’s biggest bread maker. ABF said the talks had been prompted by a “very challenging” market for its products. Rising prices of wheat and lower demand for high-calorie goods like bread have made it tougher to make a profit [...]
Breadmakers Hovis and Kingsmill in merger talks May 3, 2025 The owners of two of Britain’s biggest bread producers – Hovis and Kingsmill – are reportedly in discussions regarding a merger between the two firms as challenges deepen for the market. Associated British Foods (ABF), the owner of Kingsmill’s parent company Allied Bakeries, and investment firm Endless, which owns Hovis, are in talks about a [...]
Revealed: The private equity billionaire’s empire behind your favourite podcasts April 10, 2025 Conni Jonsson might not be a household name in the UK but this Swedish private equity billionaire is behind some of the most popular podcasts in the country. Jonsson is the founder of EQT AB, a Swedish global investment organisation set up in 1994. He also owns investment firm Qarlbo, which in turns holds 80 [...]