Bidding war for Telecity as rival offers £2.31bn May 7, 2015 DATA centre firm TelecityGroup received surprise takeover interest from US rival Equinix yesterday. Telecity has already been deep into talks to merge with Dutch counterpart Interxion, which pushed any other would-be buyers to declare their hands. Equinix’s £2.31bn bid sent Telecity’s share price soaring 21.7 per cent on the day. It follows the 15 per [...]
NAB launches record A$5.5bn fundraising May 7, 2015 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) yesterday launched the biggest rights issue ever seen on the country’s stock market, seeking to raise A$5.5bn (£2.9bn) by Monday. The lender also announced it is selling off British lenders, the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank. It is exiting the UK after several tumultuous years, and plans to list the lender on [...]
Erskine bows out as Ladbrokes suffers second loss in one month May 7, 2015 LADBROKES suffered a further blow yesterday after the embattled bookmaker saw its chairman stand down just one month after the departure of its chief executive. Peter Erskine, who has been chairman of the FTSE 250 company for six years, announced his departure ahead of the firm’s annual general meeting saying he would stand down by [...]
End in sight for RSA as Hester’s turnaround plan nears deadline May 7, 2015 STEPHEN Hester, credited with bringing RBS back from the brink of collapse, is continuing to make similar progress in turning insurance group RSA around. Shares in the firm went up by 2.2 per cent yesterday to 427.3p after it reported a one per cent increase in core premium income during the three months to 31 [...]
Aviva ahead of schedule with refocusing plan May 7, 2015 AVIVA boss Mark Wilson said yesterday that the UK insurer’s turnaround plan is running ahead of schedule, with new business in the life arm up by 14 per cent to £247m in the first three months of 2015. On the general insurance side net written premiums grew by one per cent from £845m in the [...]
Kiss me quick! Londoners urged to salute VE Day May 7, 2015 The Royal British Legion is calling on Londoners to recreate the celebrations of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) 70 years ago with kisses all round. The campaign – with the hashtag #KissforVEDay – aims to recreate the euphoric atmosphere of 8 May, 1945, when it was announced that the war was over in Europe. [...]
Dutch and German growth help ING profit May 7, 2015 DUTCH finance group ING saw its profits shoot up by more than 50 per cent on the back of the relatively healthy economies in the Netherlands and Germany. The group made profits of €1.8bn (£1.3bn) in the first three months of the year, up 50.3 per cent on the same period of 2014. And its [...]
Strengthening demand for workers is fuelling sharp salary increases May 7, 2015 RAPIDLY rising demand for workers and reduced jobseeker availability is causing pay to climb, according to survey figures released today by consultants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. An index representing the growth of permanent hiring rose to a score of 60.6 in April from March’s 59.5. An index score above 50 signifies growth, [...]
China urged to free up yuan exchange rate May 7, 2015 CHINA needs to allow greater flexibility in its exchange rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. “Exchange rate policy should continue to allow greater flexibility by reducing foreign exchange intervention,” the IMF said in its economic outlook for the Asia Pacific. It also said China needed to “reorient the economy away from excessive reliance [...]
April car registrations hit decade high May 7, 2015 Confident consumers are driving up new car sales, according to figures published yesterday by the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The number of new car registrations reached 185,778 units last month, making it the best April for new car sales for a decade. It is also 5.1 per cent more registrations than April 2014.
