London Sports Festival moves from 3×3 basketball success to pickleball at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Yard
Government to announce sale of unpaid student loans portfolio worth £900m November 24, 2013 THE government is expected to announce a deal this morning to sell off a portfolio of student loans worth £900m. The loans will be offloaded to an unnamed private debt collection agency, Sky News reported last night, saying they would be sold for tens of millions of pounds – “a fraction of the debts’ face [...]
Peugeot’s chief exec prepares to step aside for Dongfeng deal November 24, 2013 PSA PEUGEOT Citroen is interviewing candidates to replace chief executive Philippe Varin, after Chinese partner Dongfeng said a deeper alliance under negotiation should be accompanied by management change, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Varin himself is leading the hunt for a successor who has the calibre and experience to head a global carmaking [...]
Foreign buyers hungry for UK food takeovers November 24, 2013 THE WIDENING gap between discounters and upmarket retailers and a heightened focus on provenance following the horsemeat scandal is driving takeovers of British food brands, new research shows. The number of British heritage and independent brands being snapped up by domestic and overseas buyers is now at the highest level since 2006, according to a [...]
Catering group Searcys put up for sale with price tag of £25m November 24, 2013 SEARCYS, the operator of the restaurant at the top of the iconic Gherkin tower, has been put up for sale with a price tag of around £25-30m. The upmarket catering company, which also operates the champagne bars at the One New Change shopping centre in the City and at St Pancras station, has hired financial [...]
John Lewis hit by week delay of Black Friday November 24, 2013 CHRISTMAS sales at John Lewis slowed last week, as tough comparatives from a year ago prevented a repeat of last week’s stellar growth. The department store group reported sales of £111.9m in the week to 23 November, up 2.1 per cent on the same week last year, as the cold weather drove sales of coats [...]
Babcock mulls Avincis venture November 24, 2013 FTSE 100 engineering firm Babcock is in exclusive talks to establish a joint venture with helicopter services operator Avincis, the two companies confirmed yesterday. Although no deal value was given, City A.M. understands that it is expected to have an enterprise value of around £1.5bn and an equity value of up to £1bn. The venture [...]
Japan Airlines grounds a pair of Dreamliners on engine ice fears November 24, 2013 BOEING’S new 787 Dreamliner planes were hit by a fresh safety warning over the weekend, after the manufacturer said ice crystals might interfere with the engines in certain weather conditions. The firm said the engines used on some Dreamliners, made by General Electric and flown by 15 airlines, should avoid flying within 50 nautical miles [...]
Bottom Line: An ambitious play for expansion not a call to international rescue November 24, 2013 THE possibility of a tie-up between FTSE 100 stalwart Babcock and helicopter transport specialist Avincis is continuing proof of the scale of Babcock’s ambition. The engineering support services group has been looking to expand internationally in recent years and this looks a potentially smart step in that growth process, opening up new options in European [...]
Lloyds’ lock-up on St James’s Place ends November 24, 2013 THE FORMAL lock-up on Lloyds’ holding of St James’ Place shares expires today, removing one obstacle to the bank selling more stock in the wealth management unit. When the bank sold £450m worth of stock in May it agreed not to sell any more for another 180 days – a lock-up period which runs out [...]
Smaller firms plan jobs spree in the next year November 24, 2013 SMALLER listed companies are aiming to create more than 200,000 new jobs in the next year, with almost three-quarters of these firms looking to hire in spite of a tough time securing funds. The businesses polled by the Quoted Companies Alliance and accountancy group BDO expect to expand their workforce by an average of 5.8 [...]
