Barclays trims back wealth service in UK September 26, 2013 BARCLAYS will no longer accept new wealth management clients with less than £500,000, the bank revealed yesterday, as new regulations drive up the cost of doing business. The retail distribution review has pushed financial advisers to charge an up front fee instead of commission, in an effort to make them give better advice, unbiased by [...]
Thomas Cook dips as Tui gives sunny forecasts September 26, 2013 TUI TRAVEL shares took a trip higher yesterday after the holiday group raised its full-year profit forecasts. But Tui’s ascent left behind rival Thomas Cook, whose stock slumped six per cent as the firm reported slower trading over the summer. Tui said it is confident that underlying operating profits will be at least 11 per [...]
Bottom Line: This end of summer slump is no good reason to abandon ship September 26, 2013 THOMAS Cook’s turnaround has been remarkable. In just 12 months its share price has skyrocketed from 15.5p to yesterday’s close of 145.3p – a dramatic 837 per cent rise after a turbulent two years full of emergency loans and profit warnings. After such a stellar run there was bound to be a bump in the [...]
EBay to acquire Braintree to bolster PayPal September 26, 2013 ONLINE auction giant Ebay yesterday revealed it has agreed to buy payments provider Braintree in an acquisition to boost its PayPal offering on smartphones and tablets. Braintree will be bought for $800m in cash by Ebay in a deal expected to close in late 2013. “Braintree is a perfect fit with PayPal. Together, we expect [...]
Stock Spirits to raise funds in London listing September 26, 2013 STOCK Spirits Group, the central and eastern European spirits producer, has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange before the end of October, becoming the latest company to choose the UK market to source fresh funds. “We have been able to deliver sustained organic profit growth over the past five years and [...]
London Stock Exchange sees value of floats double in 2013 September 26, 2013 COMPANIES have raised £9.3bn through London floats since March, it was revealed yesterday – more than double the amount raised from IPOs in the whole of last year. London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) said it helped 63 firms go public in the five months to 31 August, against just 53 in 2013. This is set [...]
Terra Firma looks to take Infinis to market September 26, 2013 INFINIS, the renewable power generator backed by Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma, yesterday confirmed that it is considering an initial public offering, with former SSE executive Ian Marchant as chairman. It is understood that a concrete announcement will be made in the next few weeks, with the aim of raising £1.5bn and listing on [...]
Lord Ashcroft sells Restore stake for £40m September 26, 2013 LORD Ashcroft, the billionaire former Conservative party treasurer, yesterday sold most of his stake in Aim-listed office services firm Restore for £40m. Geraldton, his investment vehicle, reduced its 43.6 per cent holding to below three per cent in a placing to institutional investors yesterday morning. Ashcroft is expected to have made a healthy profit from backing [...]
New HS2 chair hopes to speed up construction on the railway September 26, 2013 THE NEW chairman of High Speed 2 hopes to get construction on the railway started sooner than planned, as he works to win round politicians and the public on the controversial project. Sir David Higgins, who will start in January, said he does not understand “why it needs to take so long – and time [...]
Accenture tops expectations as fees increase September 26, 2013 ACCENTURE yesterday reported record annual revenue figures as its core consulting business returned to growth after a year of decline. The company saw income of $28.6bn (£17.86bn) for the twelve months ending 31 August, an increase of three per cent on the previous year. Net income for the period hit $3.55bn, up from $2.82bn. This was largely [...]
