Saga puts retail investor at heart of London float April 30, 2014 SAGA, the over-50s holidays-to-insurance provider, yesterday unveiled plans for the biggest flotation in London this year, as a stampede of silver haired savers registered to snap up shares in the listing. The business, which was founded by east end hotelier Sidney De Haan in 1950, said it would raise £550m in an initial public offering [...]
Morrisons steps up battle with fresh price cuts April 30, 2014 MORRISONS has launched a fresh assault in the supermarket price war after unveiling price cuts on 1,200 products as part of its £1bn programme aimed at winning back customers defecting to cheaper rivals. Britain’s fourth largest supermarket said that from today it will slash the price of branded products such as Jammie Dodgers and Morrisons [...]
Home Retail Group to open new smaller Argos stores in London April 30, 2014 HOME Retail Group announced yesterday it will trial two new formats of its Argos stores as well as extend its new digital concept stores and ramp up its home delivery offer as the retailer continued to turn itself around. The group, which reported a 27 per cent rise in full-year profit yesterday, said it will [...]
WPP’s Sorrell tops FTSE pay April 30, 2014 SIR MARTIN Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, saw his remuneration package total nearly £30m last year. The package awarded, the highest of any chief executive in the FTSE 100, soared 70 per cent from the £17.6m he received in 2012 to £29.8m in 2013. Sorrell’s basic pay actually fell 11 per cent to [...]
Bank to decide on transcripts April 30, 2014 THE BANK of England is now officially reviewing whether to publish a fuller record of its policy meetings. Yesterday, the Bank announced that Kevin Warsh, who was formerly on the Federal Reserve’s board, will conduct a review of the bank’s practices. Currently, the Bank releases minutes of the meetings, which are not verbatim records. It [...]
Fat face to confirm float April 30, 2014 RETAILER Fat Face will this morning announce its intention to float on the London stock market, the latest retailer to join the stampede to raise funds from an IPO. Private equity owner Bridgepoint is set to sell some of its stake.
The super-duper Uber app April 30, 2014 Alex Dymoke on the minicab app that helped Londoners through the strikes THIS is my second day on Uber. I went for my test day and they said I was ready to start right away,” Omar my minicab driver tells me excitedly. He is polite and chatty, reminiscing about the days before sat-nav and waxing [...]
Five of the best | Stuck in London? Here are five apps to get you moving again April 30, 2014 Cycle Hire This app was made to accompany the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme – commonly known as Boris Bikes. It uses an in-app journey planner to help you devise cycle friendly routes, search for docking stations by postcode or a London venue, and manage your cycle hire account. iOS; 69p Citymapper Available for London, Paris, [...]
Glaxo boss not tempted to bid for AstraZeneca April 30, 2014 SHARES in British pharmaceuticals giant Glaxosmithkline slid more than two per cent yesterday after the firm revealed a 10 per cent drop in first-quarter sales, and its chief executive played down the chance of a so-called white knight bid for AstraZeneca. Sir Andrew Witty said he still prefers targeted transactions rather than mega-mergers. UK rival [...]
New figures reveal 1.4m workers on zero-hour contracts in the UK April 30, 2014 THE NUMBER of people employed on so-called zero-hour contracts is far higher than previously thought, according to statistics released yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) now estimates there are 1.4m people at work in the UK who are not provided with a minimum number of hours. Earlier this year, the group said the number was [...]
