Temenos pulls out of merger bid for Misys March 12, 2012 TEMENOS has walked away from its all-share merger with banking software company Misys after two other bidders entered the picture waving the possibility of wads of cash. The Swiss company said on 3 February it was in talks with Misys, and four days later announced plans for Misys to own 53.9 per cent of the [...]
Ziggo brings a ray of sunshine to IPO market March 12, 2012 ALONG with the sunshine came a hint of optimism about the future of the faltering IPO market yesterday as the Dutch cable group Ziggo revealed there was sufficient demand for its upcoming £550m share issue. Private equity owners Cinven and Warburg Pincus, advised by STJ Advisors, are selling 35m secondary shares with guidance of €16.50 to [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MISYS NOW? March 12, 2012 JULIAN YATES | INVESTEC The worst case scenario is off the table – we see Temenos’ withdrawal as a positive, as we foresaw material integration risk. It now becomes a guessing game. The downside risk is less with Misys as a standalone play (even without a chief executive) than with the Temenos merger. GEORGE O’CONNOR [...]
Sainsbury’s closes gap in online sales March 12, 2012 SAINSBURY’S has claimed to have become the second-biggest online grocer after its orders topped 165,000 a week. The supermarket said a 20 per cent rise in orders per week, with an annualised turnover of £750m, makes its website the fastest growing online grocery business. Overall, Sainsbury’s still ranks third behind Tesco and Asda, but the [...]
Campari drops as it misses annual earnings targets March 12, 2012 CAMPARI’S shares fell six per cent as the Italian drinks company disclosed it had missed profit forecasts for the year despite positive growth in most areas. Sales were up 9.6 per cent to €1.27bn (£1.07bn) leading to a net profit growth of 1.9 per cent to €159.2m – but both fell short of analysts’ respective forecasts of [...]
SVG chairman Ferguson leaves after 28 years March 12, 2012 SVG Capital chairman Nicholas Ferguson is leaving the private equity group at the end of the year, after 28 years with the firm. Ferguson became a director at the company’s previous incarnation, Schroder Ventures, in 1984 and was chairman when it was spun out into SVG in 1996. A prominent figure in the private equity [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU SHOP ONLINE? March 12, 2012 GEMMA COSTER FRIENDS LIFE “I don’t shop online, although I keep thinking I should do it because it does seem like a great idea. However, I haven’t got round to it yet. I definitely will though, as it seems convenient.” LEIGHTON GOULD EURO MONEY “I shop online at Tesco and I get it delivered, as [...]
GLAXO’S WITTY DOUBLES HIS PAY March 12, 2012 GlaxoSmithKline boss Andrew Witty almost doubled his pay last year to net a total of £6.78m in pay, bonuses and share awards. Witty netted £3.7m in long-term awards, up from £1.4m the previous year in a bid to close a “competitiveness gap” in the chief executive’s pay packet, the pharmaceutical giant’s annual report showed yesterday.
Directors hit back at Balls’ pensions plan March 12, 2012 THE LABOUR Party has demanded a raid on tax relief that top earners are currently granted on their pension contributions – provoking an angry reaction from business chiefs. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said yesterday that the relief should be slashed from 50 per cent to 26 per cent. “Ed Balls seems to think that this [...]
Budget 2012: what will be in Osborne’s red box? March 12, 2012 ● STAMP DUTY The chancellor appears likely to close a loophole by which people can avoid paying stamp duty on properties by putting expensive properties in off-shore firms. Stephen Herring, a senior tax partner at BDO, said the change is “as close to a dead cert as you can get”. ● MANSION TAX The Conservative [...]
