Centrica boss Laidlaw gets cold feet over top job at BG Group June 16, 2014 CENTRICA chief Sam Laidlaw will not be moving to take the vacant top spot at BG Group, according to reports that he has privately ruled himself out of the position. The chief executive has been regularly named in connection with the opening at BG group. Laidlaw indicated earlier this year that he wishes to step [...]
London house market shows sign of cooling June 16, 2014 HOUSE prices in London dropped for the first time this year between May and June, dipping 0.5 per cent as buyers’ ability to pay rapidly accelerating asking prices wanes. The average price dropped to £589,776 on the month, according to Rightmove’s latest price index. However, asking prices are still up by more than £70,000 from [...]
Medtronic nears deal for pharma rival Covidien June 16, 2014 THE WORLD’S biggest medical devices maker Medtronic is on the verge of clinching the largest cross-border drug merger ever after nearing an agreement with Irish rival Covidien. Medtronic, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, could announce as soon as today a stock and cash deal worth between $45bn (£26.5bn) and $50bn to takeover the [...]
Bottom Line: Swann’s SSP could prosper in City’s search for quality June 16, 2014 THERE was a telling comment last week during a session held at the Royal Institution of Great Britain examining initial public offerings. “We’re going to go through a rather different period now,” EY’s Richard Hall, a veteran of last year’s bumper Royal Mail float, told an audience of private equity investors. “There are still some [...]
Retail insolvencies hit five-year high as corner shops squeezed June 16, 2014 RETAIL insolvencies have unexpectedly risen to their highest point in five years, as 1,287 businesses went under in England, Scotland and Wales in the last financial year. The figure, for the 12 months to the end of March, was up 12 per cent on the previous year’s 1,149 casualties, according to a report today from [...]
Deadline for Ukraine gas debt arrives as talks fail to bear fruit June 16, 2014 THE DEADLINE for Ukraine’s $1.95bn (£1.15bn) gas bill falls today, after talks that were due to continue yesterday were unexpectedly stalled. The Ukrainian government’s debts to Gazprom, the energy giant in which the Russian government holds a majority stake, were due to be paid this morning. Talks mediated by European Union energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger [...]
City workers greeted by abstract art June 16, 2014 CITY workers will have found new additions on their way to work this morning as a variety of sculptures have started being installed around the Square Mile. The array of contemporary art pieces are part of the “Sculpture in the City” public art exhibition, which will officially launch on 3 July 2014 and run until [...]
RBS looks to sell stake in troubled Ulster Bank wing June 16, 2014 RBS MOVED closer to selling a chunk of Ulster Bank over the weekend, as part of its long-term plan to limit the damage caused by the troubled business unit. Chief executive Ross McEwan has previously said he is looking at a range of options for the lender. One of those could be to seek a [...]
M&A valuations set to return to heights of 2007 June 16, 2014 COMPANY bosses predict M&A values will surpass the frothy heights reached in the boom of 2007 by the end of the next year, a study shows. Valuations are expected to rise to a multiple of 11.3 times a company’s net earnings by the end of 2015, up 23 per cent from 9.2 times at the [...]
Mittal launches steel venture in growing Chinese auto market June 16, 2014 THE WORLD’S largest steel firm, ArcelorMittal, yesterday launched its joint Chinese venture to produce steel for use in car manufacturing. The group has opened a plant in Loudi, Western China, in combination with Hunan Valin Steel. ArcelorMittal says that the enterprise will be able to assemble 1.5m tonnes of steel per year. Though China is [...]
