Analyst Views: What did you make of Paddy Power’s results? August 28, 2013 RICHARD STUBER NOMURA INTERNATIONAL “We see full year downgrades as reflective of one-off events and currency and not indicative of the underlying long-term growth potential of Paddy Power’s online businesses. We reiterate our ‘buy’ recommendation based on… its targeted retail expansion plans and its attractive balance sheet. IVOR JONES NUMIS “Even after recent falls Paddy [...]
EE’s 4G headstart reaches new milestone ahead of rivals’ launch August 28, 2013 EVERYTHING Everywhere (EE), the UK’s largest mobile network operator, announced yesterday that its superfast 4G mobile network is now available in over 100 towns in the UK. The news came ahead of rivals O2 and Vodafone launching their 4G networks today. EE, which owns Orange and T-Mobile, said yesterday it will continue rolling out its [...]
Johnston Press loses £250m August 28, 2013 REGIONAL newspaper publisher Johnston Press yesterday reported a pre-tax loss of £248.7m for the first half of the year. The publisher put the loss down to a £194.5m non-cash impairment charge on the value of its newspapers and a £57.9m write-down on the value of its printing assets. Revenues in the first six months of [...]
Twitter hires Ticketmaster chief to head its ecommerce efforts August 28, 2013 TWITTER has hired former Ticketmaster chief executive as its first head of commerce in a move revealed yesterday. Nathan Hubbard announced his hiring in a tweet yesterday, in which he described the social network as, “a cardiogram of the passion of the live moment”. While rival Facebook has experimented with ecommerce features such as coupons [...]
Warner calls in administrators August 28, 2013 COMMERCIAL property investor Warner Estate fell into administration yesterday after months of talks with lenders and partners failed – allowing Hansteen Holdings’ founders to return to the fund they sold to the company eight years ago. Warner, which managed around £700m of office and retail properties, hired CCW Recovery Solutions as administrator and said investors [...]
BoA Merrill to settle race suit August 28, 2013 BROKERAGE firm Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $160m (£103m) to settle a class-action race discrimination lawsuit brought by a longtime US employee, an attorney for the plaintiffs confirmed on Wednesday. More than 1,200 current and former Merrill Lynch employees could be eligible to take part in the settlement, one of the largest sums obtained [...]
Chargemaster pulls flotation August 28, 2013 ELECTRIC car charging company Chargemaster has pulled its £6m float, its chief executive said yesterday. David Martell, who previously floated GPS software firm Trafficmaster, told City A.M.: “There was support out there but we didn’t feel the timing was right. We’re definitely open to it in future.” The company, which has an investment from car [...]
APR surges on new contracts August 28, 2013 TEMPORARY power provider APR Energy’s shares surged over six per cent yesterday morning, after a 72 per cent increase in new contracts signed in the first half of the year offset a decline in revenue. Revenue fell from $155m (£100m) in the first half of 2012 to $87.2m this year, reflecting the end of a [...]
Moshen hires insolvency firm August 28, 2013 CHRIS Akers’ investment group Concha yesterday said its investee company, app developer Moshen, has hired insolvency practitioners to find out what value, if any, remains in the firm. Concha, which on Tuesday revealed financial irregularities at Moshen, also said it was consulting with lawyers about recovering some of the £867,000 it has poured into the [...]
Defence cuts hit Chemring results August 28, 2013 FTSE 250-listed defence equipment maker Chemring yesterday posted a £22m decline in revenues for the three months to the end of July, which it said was anticipated. “Revenue levels reflect the ongoing deterioration in defence spending within our NATO markets and delays in order placement by customers in each of our geographic markets,” the firm [...]
