London Sports Festival moves from 3×3 basketball success to pickleball at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Yard
Budget pledge to help North Sea oil industry January 20, 2015 CHANCELLOR George Osborne told the Treasury Select Committee yesterday that he will take action in the upcoming Budget to support industry in the North Sea, in the face of falling oil prices. Answering questions on devolution, Osborne said: “I took decisions in the Autumn Statement to reduce taxes on North Sea oil… and I’m sure [...]
Co-op Bank gets set to reject even more businesses – but is its ethical policy viable? January 20, 2015 How seriously do we take this? Pretty seriously.” So says the stern man getting “ethics and values” tattooed on his back in the Co-op Bank’s cinema ad boasting about its ethical policies. Even more serious than a tattoo – which was not actually tattooed on to the actor, by the way – is the fact [...]
Company Watch: UK’s publicly-listed retailers in the doldrums January 20, 2015 BRITAIN’S largest general retailers are suffering poor financial health at present, according to new research released yesterday by corporate financial health monitoring firm Company Watch. Company Watch has examined 30 publicly-listed companies in the UK’s general retail sector, assessing their financial health using its H-Score evaluation methodology, which gives each company a score ranging between [...]
IG Group faces £30m bill after franc ructions January 20, 2015 SPREADBETTING company IG group yesterday said it faced a bill of up to £30m because of last week’s “unprecedented” surge in the Swiss franc when the Swiss National Bank scrapped a cap on the currency. The 30 per cent jump in the franc against the euro after SNP’s move last week cost currency traders millions [...]
Brokers want spreadbet clients to take on more responsibility in wake of Alpari collapse January 20, 2015 Spreadbetting customers should reassess the risks they are taking with highly leveraged currency bets, in the wake of Alpari’s collapse on the Swiss franc swings, rival firms said yesterday. “Customers have to think about the risk disclosures, there is a risk associated with trading currencies. We try to educate the customer,” said Oanda’s Vatsa Narasimha. [...]
Sports Direct share sell-down gives Ashley £117m cash boost January 20, 2015 SPORTS Direct founder Mike Ashley has employed Goldman Sachs to help him reduce his stake in the company from 58 to 55 per cent. Goldman Sachs said it was placing up to 15.4m shares in the retailer on behalf of Ashley, which at yesterday’s closing share price of 760.5p, would be worth £117m. Ashley, who [...]
Christie’s 2014 sales go down in art history January 20, 2015 THE WORLD’S leading art business and auction house Christie’s yesterday reported art sales of £5.1bn for the year ended December 2014, the highest such figure of any art company in the history of the market. The total was a was up 12 per cent year-on-year, driven by growth in all the company’s activities and across [...]
Cadbury’s might end up with Creme Egg on its face after change – Brand Index January 20, 2015 It's never a good idea to change the recipe of a well-loved treat – and Cadbury’s Creme Egg is no exception. Following anger last week over an apparent change in taste, a Cadbury’s spokesman said: “It’s no longer [made with] Dairy Milk. It is similar, but not exactly Dairy Milk. But there is a serious [...]
Ka-Shing builds UK portfolio in Eversholt deal January 20, 2015 HONG Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing has bought Eversholt Rail Group from 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Star Capital Partners. In a deal with an enterprise value of £2.5bn, a joint venture led by Li’s company Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) is to acquire the rail group, which owns 28 per cent of the [...]
Asia’s richest man is a big UK investor January 20, 2015 BILLIONAIRE Li Ka-Shing has added to his already extensive portfolio of UK companies with the Eversholt deal. In the past, he has invested heavily in British utility infrastructure, paying £645m for gas distribution firm Wales & West Utilities in 2010 and led a consortium that bought the UK electricity distribution arm of EDF Energy for [...]
