London bucks retailer gloom July 21, 2008 Central London retailers are defying the economic gloom, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium. Retail sales in June were 8.7 per cent higher than a year ago, although the rate of growth is weaker than in 2007 when an increase of 11 per cent was reported. Footfall was also higher than in June [...]
Schaeffler bid divides Conti board July 21, 2008 German ball bearings maker Schaeffler yesterday said it was still seeking friendly talks with tyre maker Continental, for which it has launched an unsolicited £9bn takeover bid. But insiders say the Conti board are split over whether or not to engage with the rival firm. Schaeffler reiterated its aim for a stake of 36 per [...]
BlueBay gets a boost as managed assets grow July 17, 2008 Fixed income hedge fund manager BlueBay received a boost yesterday, after its shares rose on the back of an announcement that assets under its management had grown significantly. Funds handled by the firm grew by 12 per cent to £10.5bn at the end of June, up from £9.35bn at the end of March, the firm [...]
Conti attacks banks July 17, 2008 German tyre maker Continental yesterday accused Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch of helping motoring rival Scaeffler Group build up a 36 per cent stake by stealth, giving it significant traction in its unsolicited €11.2bn (£8.9bn) bid for the firm. Continental, which yesterday rejected the offer as too low, said that [...]
BT is right to take a risk on faster broadband network July 16, 2008 BT’s announcement that it will spend £1.5bn upgrading Britain’s broadband network has unnerved investors, especially as it is funding the investment by suspending its shareholder buyback programme. But it’s important to remember that, in the long term, delaying this decision would have been worse for the company. Falling Behind The firm is falling behind its [...]
BT gambles on need for speed July 16, 2008 Telecoms firm BT yesterday announced it was suspending its shareholder buyback scheme to invest £1.5bn in faster broadband for 10m homes by 2012. The programme will be Britain’s largest ever investment in fibre optic cabling, which can deliver potential speeds up to 100Mbps, compared to the UK average of 4Mbps. But some analysts questioned whether [...]
InBev finally buys maker of Budweiser July 15, 2008 American brewing giant AnheuserBusch yesterday succumbed to a $52bn (£26bn) takeover bid from InBev, creating the world’s largest brewer and ending a month of acrimony between the two firms. InBev increased its offer for the maker of Budweiser to $70 a share, up from its original bid of $65 a share, marking a premium of [...]
New InBev offer appeals to Anheuser July 14, 2008 Brewing giant InBev has upped its takeover bid for American rival Anheuser-Busch to $50bn (£25bn), and yesterday appeared confident of winning agreement to close the deal. After a month-long stand off between the two firms, InBev increased its offer for the Budweiser maker to $70 a share, up from $65 a share, or $46.3bn. The [...]
Yahoo snubs fresh bid from Microsoft July 14, 2008 Internet firm Yahoo this weekend angrily rejected an audacious proposal to sell its search business to software giant Microsoft and hand control of the rest of the company to shareholder Carl Icahn. Icahn and Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer are pressurising Yahoo in a desperate bid to oust the board and to remove chief executive [...]
Hays cautions on slowdown July 11, 2008 British recruitment giant Hays yesterday warned that UK growth was slowing and that it would have to cut jobs, although it said it still predicted profits in line with market expectations. Hays, which generates around half its fees in the UK and Ireland, grew total net fees by 16 per cent in the quarter ending [...]
