Oakley raises £130m for deals March 26, 2015 TIME OUT and made.com owner Oakley Capital yesterday raised £130m through its stock market-listed vehicle to pursue more deals. Fund manager Neil Woodford and firms Invesco Perpetual, Sarasin and Ruffer will stump up the cash for Oakley, which is led by entrepreneur Peter Dubens. The placing is comprised of 78.7m shares at 165p each and will [...]
London Black Cabs hail their greener future March 26, 2015 THE CAPITAL’S iconic Black Cabs will soon be turning green after the London Taxi Company announced that its new Coventry facility would include a research, development and assembly centre for an upcoming electric and ultra-low emission model. Chinese car manufacturer Geely is investing £250m into the facility and it will create 1,000 jobs.
Robust retail sales quell low inflation fears March 26, 2015 THE UK retail industry grew rapidly in February, dispelling fears that low inflation would be harmful to the economy. Some economists are concerned that if prices are dropping, consumers may opt to delay purchases. However, retail sales were 5.7 per cent higher in February than in the same month last year, according to figures released [...]
Supergroup share price surges as Idris Elba takes centre stage March 26, 2015 SUPERGROUP, the maker of Superdry clothing, is roping in potential future Bond Idris Elba to help grow its business. The star of The Wire will collaborate on designing a premium fashion range for Superdry, the retailer revealed among a host of plans, which sent shares surging 6.2 per cent yesterday. In addition to the range [...]
Sofa giant DFS eyes expansion as sales jump March 26, 2015 SOFA giant DFS said yesterday it is plotting further expansion overseas after launching in the Netherlands for the first time in the first half. Chief executive Ian Filby said the Netherlands was “one of four markets” it had identified for expansion after conducting a global review. However, he declined to say where the other countries [...]
Cenkos: A British banking model makes a comeback March 26, 2015 A boardroom chat between an Oxbridge-educated dealermaker who grew up on a Liverpool council estate and the former head of a scrap metal firm from Scotland is a scene only imagineable in a City of London boardroom. But the meeting between Avril Palmer-Baunack, former head of Universal Salvage, and Jim Durkin, chief executive of Cenkos [...]
Bank of England says world risks could hurt City March 26, 2015 GLOBAL risks, from the slowdown in China to the chance of Greece leaving the Eurozone could trigger panic in financial markets, leading to severe pain in London, the Bank of England warned yesterday. The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) told firms like asset managers that they should be prepared to withstand rapid outflows of funds. “Any of these [...]
M&C Saatchi share price dips but revenues up on US business boom March 26, 2015 Famous advertising firm M&C Saatchi saw revenues rise in 2014, but profits fall, it announced yesterday. The firm saw solid growth in all major markets, with UK revenues up nine per cent on the year, driven by increasing use of mobile advertising and customer relationship management (CRM) software. The strongest growth was in the [...]
Alliance cites Elliott’s record March 26, 2015 ALLIANCE Trust yesterday invoked Elliott Advisors’ track record, asking shareholders to reject the activist investor’s call. It added that the fund was trying to engineer an exit from the investment trust. Alliance Trust chairman Karin Forseke said in a circular sent to shareholders that the addition of three Elliott-backed members to the board would allow [...]
£500m Lloyds shares sold off March 26, 2015 THE TREASURY raked in another £500m from selling Lloyds’ shares, yesterday revealing that its stake in the bailed-out bank had been cut to below 22 per cent. It is just two weeks since the previous announcement that a similar chunk of shares had been sold, indicating the pace at which the government is offloading the stock. [...]
