Mothercare hopes for feel-good factor from arrival of royal baby July 18, 2013 MOTHERCARE, the baby products retailer, is hoping that a “feel-good factor” from the imminent royal baby birth will in turn have a positive impact on sales. Chief executive Simon Calver said the group had put together a celebration range that included Born to Rule sleepsuits and Princess/Prince in Training bibs to mark the birth of [...]
Analyst views | What did you make of mothercare’s first quarter results? July 18, 2013 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The outlook for the company remains highly uncertain. The UK business is already battling significant competition, while the track record for UK retailers overseas is decidedly mixed. In all, despite a doubling in the share price over the last year, analyst opinion remains sceptical in tone, pointing towards a weak hold. [...]
HR Owen turns down investor’s takeover offer July 18, 2013 LUXURY car dealership HR Owen yesterday spurned a takeover offer from its biggest shareholder, claiming the £32.5m bid was “unsolicited and unacceptable”. HR Owen said Berjaya Philippines’ offer of 130p per share represented a premium of just 7.4 per cent on the share price before the bid was announced. “The board believes the offer by [...]
Clive Cowdery enters the States with $600m life insurance deal July 18, 2013 INSURANCE tycoon Clive Cowdery yesterday revealed his $600m (£395m) purchase of Lincoln Benefit Life from financial services group Allstate. The deal represents Cowdery’s entrance into the US market after a decade of shaking up the industry in Britain. A swathe of insurers have put life businesses up for sale in the face of low returns, [...]
Output up for UK car makers July 18, 2013 A JUMP in production last month means the British car manufacturing industry grew 1.1 per cent in the first half of the year. The Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders said output rose 10.4 per cent in June, taking the half-year total to 764,390 units. While four out of five cars built in the UK [...]
Nokia delivers mixed results July 18, 2013 MOBILE phone maker Nokia yesterday reported a 22 per cent drop in year-on-year revenues to €11.5bn (£9.9bn) for the first half of 2013, despite strong sales of its flagship Lumia smartphone. The Finnish firm also said its net losses contracted to €227m in the second quarter, from €1.41bn in the same period last year, as [...]
Help is at hand for the Square Mile romantics July 18, 2013 BUSY City workers often employ the services of a concierge to help organise their daily lives. However, one City boy from HSBC has taken hired help to a new level – employing two women to help him propose to his girlfriend. David Bossart enlisted the services of professional proposals service duo Daisy and Tiffany to help [...]
Mervyn King and Lily Allen chat music at first day of Ashes Test July 18, 2013 SIR MERVYN King was continuing to enjoy his retirement yesterday. After being spotted watching the tennis at Wimbledon earlier in the month, the former Bank of England governor was at Lord’s for the first day of the second Ashes Test. However, King was not chatting with fellow banking or even cricket chums – he was [...]
Bombardier and Hitachi sign up to build trains July 18, 2013 THE EAST COAST Main Line and the Thameslink route are both in line to run new trains after separate deals were agreed yesterday. The Department for Transport and Hitachi’s European transportation division have agreed a £1.2bn contract to build 30 nine-carriage electric trains for the East Coast route. In a separate deal, train company Southern [...]
Sales revenues rise at Eurostar as passengers flock to new routes July 18, 2013 EUROSTAR, the rail service that links the UK to mainland Europe, said yesterday that passenger numbers and sales revenues both grew in the first half of 2013. Passenger numbers rose by two per cent year-on-year to 4.9m and sales revenues grew by seven per cent to £453m in the first half of the year. The [...]
