Babcock wins 21-year contract to maintain London’s fire engines April 1, 2014 BABCOCK International yesterday said it has won a 21-year deal to maintain London Fire Brigade’s vehicle fleet. The FTSE 100-listed engineering firm said it will manage 500 vehicles and 50,000 pieces of specialist equipment across Greater London, with the contract set to start on 13 November. No deal value was disclosed, but Caroline de La [...]
TPG showering bathroom web store with cash April 1, 2014 A FAMILY owned bathroom fixture store based in Hull has won the backing of one of America’s biggest private equity investors. Victoria Plumb, an online store which sells products like showers and taps, is setting up a venture with TPG Capital, the buyout giant led by private equity veteran David Bonderman. The tie-up is thought [...]
GrubHub targeting $2bn New York Stock Exchange valuation April 1, 2014 GRUBHUB, the US food delivery service similar to Britain’s Just Eat, has raised its expected share price range up to between $23 and $25 ahead of its listing on Friday. The price range will raise GrubHub about $176m from its initial public offering (IPO), with a top end valuation of around $1.9bn (£1.14bn). GrubHub, backed by [...]
Brand Index: Spontaneous campaigning works for Cancer Research April 1, 2014 THE IMPROMPTU social media campaign for cancer awareness – where thousands of people shared makeup-free photos of themselves – has had a positive impact on the public’s perception of charity Cancer Research UK, according to new research from YouGov’s CharityIndex. Our findings show that although the campaign started organically and was not launched by the [...]
Balderton starts $300m tech fund April 1, 2014 LONDON tech startups are being targeted as part of Balderton Capital’s new $305m (£183m) early stage investment fund for Europe, that it announced yesterday. Balderton, the tech venture capital fund whose investment record includes Lovefilm and Betfair, said the new fund would focus on companies seeking Series A funding – which is funding that was [...]
Paris push for WPP’s digital arm April 1, 2014 WPP yesterday announced it has bought Paris-based digital marketing firm X-Prime via its marketing agency JWT. WPP said the takeover follows its strategy of developing its capabilities in digital media. X-Prime employs around 50 staff between Paris and Toulouse who specialise in producing corporate websites for firms like Krug and Saint Gobain. Last year X-Prime [...]
Creston appoints new finance chief April 1, 2014 Communications firm Creston yesterday appointed Kathryn Herrick as finance chief following former finance chief Barrie Brien’s appointment as chief executive. Herrick joins Creston from data centre firm Equinix where she was finance chief for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
App maker Somo’s $5.5m fundraise April 1, 2014 Mobile marketing firm Somo today announced the completion of a $5.5m (£3.3m) funding round led by MMC Ventures. Chief executive Nick Hynes, who previously founded search firm Overture before selling it to Yahoo in 2003 for $1.6bn, said the additional funding would go to developing the firm’s mobile advertising business and enterprise mobile efforts, for [...]
Mind the salary gap: Piccadilly is richest line April 1, 2014 WHEN someone asks you which Tube line you use, they could be enquiring about more than just how close you get squeezed into other people’s armpits and how frequently you’re serviced with a carriage. They might be able to take a stab at your salary. Recruiting firm Randstad has done the rounds and found out [...]
The man known as Mr Gaucho takes his own bite of the steak April 1, 2014 MARTIN Williams has been MD of Gaucho for nine years. His face was seen so regularly at the restaurants some dubbed him Mr Gaucho. But he’ll have to relinquish his moniker because after almost a decade he’s moving on. Williams finishes up at Gaucho this month and is starting up his own steak empire, M [...]
