Stelios urges investors to reject Icamap’s £139m Easyhotel bid August 5, 2019 Easyhotel founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has called on shareholders to reject a £139m bid for the business, saying it fails to recognise the company’s “true value”. Real estate fund Icamap made the 95p per share bid for the hotel chain this morning alongside developer Ivanhoe Cambridge. Read more: Satellite giant Inmarsat ditches dividend ahead of [...]
Tate Modern incident: Teenager in custody after child thrown from 10th floor viewing platform August 5, 2019 A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following reports that a young child was thrown from a 10th floor viewing platform at London’s Tate Modern art gallery. The six-year-old boy is in a critical condition after the London Air Ambulance airlifted him to hospital after he was treated at the scene yesterday. [...]
Just Eat and Takeaway.com agree terms on £8.3bn merger August 5, 2019 Just Eat and merger partner Takeaway.com have agreed terms on a $10bn (£8.3bn) merger, valuing the former’s shares at 731p. However, that figure falls below the 736p figure shares hit at the close of London Stock Exchange trading last Friday, raising the possibility that a rival bidder could emerge. Read more: Just Eat profits plunge [...]
Majestic Wine sells brand and stores for £95m to focus on Naked Wines August 2, 2019 High street retailer Majestic Wine is set to sell all its stores as well as its brand for £95m as it transitions into an online-only company. US private equity firm Fortress is buying the outlets, securing 1,000 jobs as it committed to keeping the 200-store network, which had a turnover of £300m last year. Read [...]
UK construction sector suffers ‘disastrous’ blow as downturn deepens August 2, 2019 The UK’s construction industry activity sank for the fifth time in six months in July as economists all but ruled out a swift turnaround, a closely-followed measure of sector activity revealed today. Output fell for the third month in a row in July, according to IHS Markit’s UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), leaving the [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland ‘returns from the wilderness’ with £1.7bn dividend August 2, 2019 Royal Bank of Scotland scored a bumper £1.3bn profit for its second quarter, it revealed today, as well as offering a special 12p per share dividend to investors. But it warned that tough economic conditions would hit profitability into 2020, sending its share price down almost five per cent. Read more: Barclays boosts first half [...]
UK manufacturing sector ‘suffocating’ as output falls to seven-year low August 1, 2019 The UK’s manufacturing sector is “suffocating” from a poisonous mix of lower global economic growth and Brexit uncertainty, a closely-followed economic measure found today. Production volumes nosedived to a seven-year low in July, IHS Markit’s UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed. Meanwhile the sector was stuck in a contraction, with July’s PMI score of [...]
‘Sea of red’: Eurozone manufacturing output sinks to lowest level since 2012 August 1, 2019 Germany deepened the Eurozone’s downturn as confidence in the area’s manufacturing sector hit its lowest level since December 2012 last month, fresh data today revealed. Economists warned the Eurozone was ired in a “sea of red” as Germany’s manufacturing output plunged to an 84-month low and Ireland to a 75-month low. France’s 49.7 measure represented [...]
Schroders profit drops amid weak investor sentiment August 1, 2019 Schroders suffered a 14 per cent profit drop despite a rise in assets under management as it warned investors that it sees “headwinds across the industry”. Read more: Janus Henderson struggles to shake client jitters as outflows mount up The figures Profit before tax fell 14 per cent year on year to £319.3m for the [...]
Standard Chartered hikes profits despite US-China trade war impact August 1, 2019 Standard Chartered boosted profits in the first six months of 2019, but warned of the impact of the US-China trade war on global market sentiment. Read more: MPs turn up the heat on Standard Chartered boss in pension pay row The figures Underlying profit before tax increased 11 per cent year on year to $2.6bn [...]