Morrisons buys baby care website for £70m February 15, 2011 Wm Morrison Supermarkets, the country’s fourth-biggest grocer, is buying online baby products retailer Kiddicare for £70m to kick-start an online business selling non-food goods. Morrison said the deal would give it a technology platform and distribution centre to develop an online non-food business, launching its first products in 2012. The move is part of chief [...]
Barclays warns over regulation as profit jumps to £6.1bn February 15, 2011 Barclays said it plans to streamline operations to boost profitability as it grapples with tougher regulations which it says will lower its returns. The warning came as the bank reported a forcast-beating 32 per cent rise in annual earnings on , beating expectations. Bob Diamond, the American investment banker who took over as chief executive [...]
Speedy Hire revenue up despite despite big freeze February 14, 2011 British tool-rental firm Speedy Hire said its third-quarter revenue, excluding fleet equipment sales, rose 8.8 per cent, aided by an increased focus on growth markets such as water and waste. The company said its revenue in January, excluding fleet equipment sales, rose 2.1 per cent. Speedy Hire said that the business was trading in line [...]
New Look value halved after failure to float February 14, 2011 Fashion chain New Look’s value has cut by almost half by its private-equity backers after it failed to float with a £1.7bn price a year ago. The company has been hit by the ongoing tough consumer climate since it shelved its plans to float Last month it said it had been badly hit by the [...]
LSE moves to speedier trading platform February 14, 2011 The London Stock Exchange moved its main trading platform to a faster system just days after after launching a bid to buy Canadian exchange TMX. The exchange has moved its main UK share system to technology provided by Millenium, a Sri Lankan company it bought in 2009, which makes it faster and more attractive to [...]
Credit Suisse in £3.8bn convertible bond issue February 14, 2011 Credit Suisse will issue six billion Swiss francs (£3.8bn) of contingent convertible capital bonds (CoCos) to two Middle Eastern investors, a move towards satisfying tougher Swiss capital rules. Under the new rules, Switzerland’s two biggest banks UBS and Credit Suisse will have to issue CoCos, which convert into equity under certain conditions such as if [...]
China trade surplus drops February 14, 2011 China’s trade surplus fell to its lowest in nine months in January after imports surged, supporting the government’s case ahead of a G20 meeting that it is doing enough to spur domestic demand without speeding up currency appreciation. The trade surplus shrank to $6.5bn (£4.05bn) from $13.1bn in December, well short of forecasts for a [...]
SVG sees asset value soar February 14, 2011 Private equity firm SVG Capital’s net asset value soared by almost 42 per cent in 2010, it said. The net asset value per share rose from 222.9p to 315.9p and shareholders’ funds grew 51 per cent to 298.9p a share. The share price was up 66 per cent over the period as net asset value [...]
West Ham Olympic Stadium bid gets go ahead February 11, 2011 West Ham United has been selected as the preferred club to move into the Olympic Stadium in east London after the 2012 Games. Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) chiefs chose the club’s bid over a rival proposal from Tottenham Hotspur. The decision must now be passed by the OPLC board, two government departments and the [...]
Producer prices up more than forecast February 11, 2011 Manufacturers’ input costs rose at their fastest annual rate in more than two years in January, led by sharp increases in the cost of oil and imported metals and materials, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics said producer input prices rose 13.4 percent on the year in January, the biggest rise since October [...]
