First Group appoints former Arriva boss as chair August 15, 2019 Travel company First Group has appointed former Arriva chief executive David Martin as its new chair. The appointment comes the day after First won a tender to run the West Coast mainline alongside Italian firm Trenitalia. Former chair Wolfhart Hauser resigned in June after 30 per cent of investors voted against his re-election. Read more: [...]
City watchdog failing to protect consumers from high-risk investment firms August 14, 2019 Another day another investment scheme collapse. This time it is mini-bond firm Asset Life. News broke today that the company had crashed into administration last month owing more than 500 investors £8m. Asset Life had close links with fellow mini-bond firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), which went bust in December owing 11,600 investors £236m. [...]
Sports Direct left looking like giant mugs as auditor Grant Thornton quits August 14, 2019 Sports Direct shares have tumbled to their lowest level since 2011 after it emerged that Mike Ashley’s retail empire could be left without an auditor, breaching stock market rules. The company is understood to have sought government advice over what would happen if it is unable to find an auditor after its current auditor Grant [...]
First Group wins bid to replace Virgin on West Coast mainline August 14, 2019 The government announced today that First Trenitalia had been appointed to run the West Coast mainline from December 2019 to 2031. First Group and Italian firm Trenitalia will replace Virgin on the line that runs from London Euston to Glasgow via Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The First-Trenitalia consortium saw off a rival bid from a [...]
Henderson Park buys Irish real estate fund Green Reit in €1.3bn deal August 14, 2019 Real estate investment group Henderson Park today said it had agreed to acquire Irish real estate fund Green REIT in a €1.3bn (£1.2bn) deal. Green Reit floated in 2013 as Ireland’s property market began to recover after the country’s real estate crash. It put itself up for sale in April because its shares were trading [...]
Hong Kong’s airport reopens as Chinese officials describe protesters as ‘terrorists’ August 14, 2019 Hong Kong’s airport reopened today after two days of chaos which saw hundreds of flights cancelled. China’s Hong Kong liaison officer said today that the protesters were not different to “terrorists” raising fears of a violent crackdown as Chinese troops massed along the border. The Beijing-based Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said extremely violent [...]
UK lawyers taking Belgian citizenship in case of no-deal Brexit August 13, 2019 UK lawyers in Brussels are taking Belgian citizenship in order to keep practising before the European courts post-Brexit. Brussels is a key centre for competition law and most large international law firms have an office there to advise clients on European law issues. Trevor Soames, a Brussels-based partner with US law firm Quinn Emanuel who [...]
Muddy Waters says Burford has ‘same illness’ that doomed Enron August 13, 2019 Muddy Waters redoubled its assault on litigation funder Burford Capital today, accusing the company of having the “same illness” that brought Enron down. The activist shortseller accused Burford of “addiction to mark-to-model gains financed by debt”. In mark-to-model or fair value accounting, unrealised gains are included on a company’s balance sheet. Muddy Waters said: “We [...]
Card Factory delivers sales rise despite challenging consumer market August 13, 2019 Greetings card retailer Card Factory said sales grew 5.5 per cent in the six months to 31 July, despite a “challenging consumer environment”. The company said like-for-like sales were up 1.5 per cent and total group sales up 5.5 per cent. It opened 26 net new UK stores in the period and said it is [...]
Travel firm Tui says Boeing 737 Max grounding could cost it up to €300m August 13, 2019 Anglo-German travel firm Tui said today that the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max could cost it up to €300m (£278m) for the current financial year. In its results for the third quarter, the firm’s markets and airlines business posted a €103.9m loss, compared to a profit of €37.2m in the same quarter the year [...]