Ryanair claims breach of human rights as it appeals to top court February 12, 2015 RYANAIR is taking its legal challenge over Aer Lingus to the UK Supreme Court, yesterday claiming it is a human rights issue. The budget airline had previously been told by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to sell off its 29 per cent stake in Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus, reducing its stake to no [...]
John Laing IPO fails to impress with start price February 12, 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE investment group John Laing saw its shares fall by 2.31 per cent yesterday on debut, despite pricing at the bottom of the expected range. The group, which is behind some of Britain’s biggest infrastructure projects including the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the new Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, priced its shares at [...]
BT taps market for £1bn to get EE February 12, 2015 BT RAISED around £1bn through a share placing with institutional investors yesterday to help fund its £12.5bn takeover of mobile phone operator EE. The shares, equivalent to about three per cent of BT’s outstanding issuance, were priced at 455p, slightly below yesterday’s opening price of 458.7p. BT said the placing is not conditional on the [...]
French energy giant EDF hit by warm weather February 12, 2015 INVESTORS reacted with disappointment yesterday as mild weather on the continent and unplanned outages in the UK were blamed for underwhelming results at French energy giant EDF. The company saw sales fall in the UK to €9.8bn (£7.25bn), a decline of two per cent on the year with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation [...]
Parking app Just Park now tapping crowdfunders for growth capital February 12, 2015 Just Park founder, Anthony Eskinazi, tells Oliver Smith, his clients will race to invest in the parking app Parking app Just Park, which hooks drivers up with parking space owners, will look to raise £1m through crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The London-based startup, that enables you to find a space, book it and navigate to it, [...]
Lord Fink vs Ed Miliband: When is nasty tax avoidance just sensible tax planning? February 12, 2015 The bitter parliamentary row on tax avoidance is a funny old spat – nobody caught in the cross-fire seems to have broken the law, and most of the supposedly nefarious avoidance is making use of rules that were deliberately brought in by governments to cut tax bills. So The Capitalist wants to know when does good [...]
Happily ever after February 12, 2015 SMUG married couples have one more reason to be so, according to data from the ONS, which shows people in marriages or civil partnerships are the happiest in the UK. Single people are only beaten in the misery stakes by divorcees – but do try to enjoy Valentine’s Day anyway.
Imperial sales hit by US cigar market slump February 12, 2015 THE STRONG pound and ongoing trouble in the Middle East were behind a decline in cigarette sales during the fourth quarter, according to Imperial Tobacco. Tobacco sales for the quarter were down four per cent, despite an increase in its growth brands, such as Davidoff and Gauloises, which had volumes up 11 per cent and revenue [...]
Shutters come down for boss of Morrisons February 12, 2015 Dalton Philips is to step down as chief executive of Morrisons earlier than planned, leaving finance chief Trevor Strain to take on the role from Monday on an interim basis. The Bradford-based supermarket announced last month that it was time “for a fresh pair of eyes” to help revive the ailing business and that Philips [...]
L’Oreal UK chief executive Michel Brousset says the group’s bad hair days are behind it February 12, 2015 Michel Brousset takes a good look at my hair and sits back in his chair again. L’Oreal’s charismatic UK chief executive, himself perfectly coiffed, seems satisfied with what he sees: “You have fine hair, like 65 per cent of British women,” he declares. Hair is far from a trivial matter for the 41-year-old photography and [...]
