Dealmakers at The Savoy for M&A knees up December 13, 2012 TO The Savoy on Wednesday evening, for one of the final awards dos in The Capitalist’s diary before the Square Mile goes into hibernation for the festive period. The occasion this week was the Mergermarket European M&A Awards 2012, hosted by Daily Politics presenter and Spectator chairman Andrew Neil. The annual ceremony awards the biggest [...]
Queen and Prince Philip inspect Bank of England’s gold stash December 13, 2012 WHEN they weren’t making insightful observations on the state of the UK’s financial regulation yesterday, The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh seemed to enjoy the rest of their visit to the vaults of the Bank of England yesterday. As tradition dictates, the Queen and Prince Philip both signed an unissued £1m [...]
Apple agrees to back down on ebook pricing… December 13, 2012 APPLE and a group of major publishers have backed down over the pricing of ebooks, in a move that could see Amazon set lower prices. The four publishers – Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette Livre and Macmillan – as well as the technology giant reached an agreement with European authorities following a competition investigation. The [...]
WPP outlines China expansion with new chief executive role December 13, 2012 SIR MARTIN Sorrell’s advertising company, WPP, yesterday signalled further expansion into the East, in appointing WPP veteran Bessie Lee to the new role of chief executive for its Chinese operations. The move follows an acquisition spree in the country, which is now WPP’s third-largest market after the UK and US. Sir Martin expects China to [...]
EE extends headstart by rolling out 4G service in 17 more cities December 13, 2012 THE UK’S biggest mobile network operator, EE, will double the number of cities that its 4G service covers next spring. The move will extend the company’s headstart on Vodafone and O2, which will not be able to launch their own high-speed mobile internet services until early summer. EE said yesterday it would bring 4G to an [...]
…while Google muscles in on its turf with iPhone maps app December 13, 2012 GOOGLE yesterday released a version of its mapping software for Apple devices, following widespread criticism of the iPhone maker’s own service. Apple replaced Google’s software with its own as the iPhone’s default maps application in September. However, the service was riddled with errors, leading chief executive Tim Cook to issue an uncharacteristic apology. The service [...]
Ad founders cash in with Saatchi sale December 13, 2012 THE TWO founders of a London digital advertising agency were both set for multi-million pound rewards as they sold their company to Saatchi & Saatchi in a deal believed to be worth around £10m. Outside Line, majority owned by Ant Cauchi and Lloyd Salmons, employs around 70 people from its Farringdon office. Saatchi & Saatchi’s [...]
New Betfair boss playing it safe with focus on regulated nations December 13, 2012 THE NEW chief executive of Betfair has outlined plans to focus on regulated gambling markets, indicating a shift from the strategy outlined by former boss David Yu. Breon Corcoran, who joined the online exchange-betting operator in the summer from Paddy Power, said the regulatory environment in certain countries was “challenging” and thus the company would [...]
What do you make of betfair’s shift under new management? December 13, 2012 IVOR JONES NUMIS SECURITIES Betfair is reallocating resources; trying to create a business of better quality with better long-term growth potential. Management now seems keener on adapting the product to the customer and less determined that the customer adapt to the product. Target cut to 1,000p but “Buy” guidance. SIMON FRENCH PANMURE GORDON Current trading [...]
House prices up on high volume of transactions December 13, 2012 HOUSE PRICES managed to creep up in November, after the month saw uncharacteristically high activity. Prices were up 0.2 per cent on the month, according to data from LSL Property Services and Acadametrics, on the back of a five per cent rise in the number of transactions compared to last November. This put prices up 3.3 per [...]
