Balfour Beatty named preferred bidder for £330m university deal August 5, 2013 INFRASTRUCTURE group Balfour Beatty yesterday said it has been appointed as the preferred bidder for a contract with the University of West Florida, valued at £330m. The development contract, which comprises a number of projects including student accommodation, a football stadium and a senior living community for retired faculty, will be delivered in phases over [...]
MWH Global’s McAulay to leave US for executive roles at Pennon August 5, 2013 FTSE 250-listed utility and waste management company Pennon yesterday announced that Ian McAulay has been appointed as an executive director of the group’s board and as chief executive of its subsidiary company Viridor. McAulay, who is currently chief of global strategy and corporate development with US waste treatment company MWH Global, takes up his new [...]
Cannabis therapy firm posts loss August 5, 2013 GW Pharmaceuticals, the Aim-listed drug firm focused on cannabis-based therapies, swung to a loss of £2m in the three months to the end of June but is hopeful of increasing sales in the US. Revenues fell from £14.4m a year ago to £7.3m, due to a one-off milestone payment in 2012. The company said its [...]
Waitrose buys Good Food Guide August 5, 2013 Waitrose has bought The Good Food Guide, and insisted yesterday that the restaurant reviewing magazine will remain independent. Waitrose said its purchase, for an undisclosed sum, includes the website as well as the 63-year-old magazine. “The Good Food Guide has a loyal following among our customers and we will continue to operate it as an [...]
CVC nears deal to buy UK insurer August 5, 2013 Private equity firm CVC has entered into exclusive talks to buy British home appliance insurer Domestic & General from Advent International, banking sources said yesterday. Private equity group Advent International took Domestic & General private for £524m in 2007 backed with £434m of debt, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data. It tried to sell it [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs August 5, 2013 White and Case The law firm has announced the appointment of Ross Allardice as partner in its UK and European private equity team. He has 11 years’ experience working with private equity funds, and was most recently at Kirkland & Ellis. Barclays The bank’s corporate and employer solutions division has recruited Sean McGowan to its global stock [...]
Best of the Brokers for 6 August 2013 August 5, 2013 LADBROKES Ahead of the bookmaker’s first-half results on Thursday, Peel Hunt has a “hold” rating and a price target of 201p. The broker thinks Ladbrokes is odds-on for a poor set of numbers, with earnings of around £90m and rising costs. Peel Hunt sees Playtech as a better play in the gambling sector. OPHIR ENERGY [...]
London Report: FTSE dips after HSBC’s profits miss forecasts August 5, 2013 BRITAIN’S benchmark equity index fell yesterday, pulled down by HSBC after the heavyweight bank’s interim profits missed forecasts, giving HSBC shares their worst day in well over a year. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down 0.4 per cent, or 28.29 points, at 6,619.58 points. The decline marked its second consecutive fall after a four-day [...]
New York Report: Slow day on Wall Street as shares decline August 5, 2013 THE DOW and the S&P 500 dipped yesterday in the thinnest volume so far this year, following their record closing highs last week as a lack of major news left the market directionless. Although about 100 companies in the S&P 500 are still scheduled to report earnings, the season is winding down sharply after last [...]
Michael Gove’s illiteracy crusade will have huge benefits for our economy August 5, 2013 NEARLY half of all businesses are forced to provide literacy classes because many recruits can’t write a coherent memo. Even graduates from our best universities, according to anecdotal evidence from employers, have difficulty expressing themselves in comprehensible written sentences — hence so much dreadful bureaucratese. Meanwhile, a large proportion of universities are offering remedial courses [...]
