Swedish Kinnevik bids for remaining chunk of Metro February 6, 2012 SWEDISH investment firm Kinnevik has made an all cash offer for the half of Metro International it does not already own, valuing the newspaper group at around 1.15bn Swedish krona (£108m). Kinnevik, which currently owns 46.6 per cent of Metro and controls 42.4 per cent of the votes, has offered a premium of approximately 46 per [...]
Taiwanese firm is caught in pincer February 6, 2012 THE demise of Nokia happened in slow motion. Apple released its first iPhone in 2007 but it took almost four years before Nokia admitted it was “standing on a burning platform”. Even now, some believe Nokia’s new Microsoft Windows smartphone, the Lumia, could snatch the Finnish handset maker from the jaws of defeat (for the [...]
O2 extends rugby sponsorship February 6, 2012 Telecoms giant O2 has renewed its sponsorship agreement with the Rugby Football Union, which has been in place since rugby turned professional in 1995. The deal – which extends the partnership until after the 2015 Rugby World Cup – gives O2 customers priority booking for England matches at Twickenham while the telecoms company supports the [...]
Brits dominate UK album market February 6, 2012 Brit music has returned to its Spice Girls heyday, with British artists accounting for 52.7 per cent of last year’s album sales in the UK, according to Official Charts Company data, pushing the US to its lowest market share (32.7 per cent) since 1999. But while Adele and Coldplay increased Britain’s share of the UK singles market [...]
GlobeOp directors back TPG bid February 6, 2012 The independent directors of takeover target GlobeOp Financial Services have re-stated their support for an offer from US private equity giant TPG Partners after the prospect of a rival bid emerged. They said the £508m TPG bid represents “good value” after US firm SS&C Technologies, a rival to GlobeOp, said it has been performing due [...]
Retail morale is knocked by sluggish sales February 6, 2012 RETAIL sales have remained sluggish at the start of 2012, despite earlier reports that weak consumer confidence was turning a corner. Like-for-like sales were down 0.3 per cent in January compared to the same time last year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said this morning. “Customers parked their worries in December and spent, encouraged by [...]
House prices set to stagnate February 6, 2012 HOUSE prices rose in January, defying the trend of recent months, Halifax said yesterday, as it warned that values are set to stagnate this year. Average prices increased 0.6 per cent to £160,907, though they fell 0.9 per cent over the quarter and are down 1.8 per cent since January 2011. “Low interest rates have [...]
Retired homeowners are losing billions in weak property market February 6, 2012 RETIRED homeowners are losing out from housing market volatility, according to research published yesterday by Key Retirement Solutions (KRS). Over-65s own an estimated £749.45bn worth of property outright, and lost £7.185bn in the last three months as the housing market stalled – equivalent to £1,236 each. The market’s continuing poor performance means pensioners are down [...]
Company pension deficits show little sign of being filled, warns risk survey February 6, 2012 THE UK’S largest companies face a huge deficit in their defined benefit pension funds which shows no sign of being closed, Mercer’s pensions risk survey revealed yesterday. Combined deficits of FTSE 350 firms stood at £83bn on 31 January, the study showed, barely changed from the £84bn deficit recorded at the end of December. Asset [...]
Strong car registrations boost outlook for the UK February 6, 2012 RESILIENT car sales have provided a boost to the UK’s outlook, economists said yesterday. New car registrations edged up by 0.03 per cent last month, compared to January 2011, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed. “This is surprising because almost 200,000 cars were pre-registered by the industry in December 2011 [...]
