EE is keeping up with its 4G speed pledge February 10, 2013 THE UK’s first 4G mobile service is broadly living up to its claims about faster mobile internet, though its geographical coverage remains patchy, according to research out today. Mobile phone network EE launched its 4G connections in October amid much fanfare about its download speeds, which the firm said would be up to five times [...]
Byron Hamburgers under the hammer for upwards of £100m February 10, 2013 BYRON, the upmarket hamburger chain dotted around London’s square mile, is being touted to would-be buyers with a price tag of between £100m and £120m, after the chain boomed to healthy adjusted profits over the last six months. The outfit, which is part of a stable of restaurants including PizzaExpress, Ask Italian and Soho institution [...]
Montagu irons out GHD sale February 10, 2013 The private equity owner of hair styling brand GHD has sold the firm to Lion Capital for an undisclosed sum. Montagu Private Equity, which bought into GHD’s parent firm as part of a management buyout for £160m in 2007, said the company generated £150m in revenues and £32m in profit last year. Lion said it [...]
Retail gloom takes toll on Radley February 10, 2013 Radley, the upmarket leather goods maker, said it swung to a loss last year as a result of “incredibly challenging high street conditions”, which saw retailers slash prices to lure shoppers. Company accounts show that reorganisation costs of £1.7m dragged the group to a £737,000 loss in the year to the end of April, down [...]
Rocco Forte sales rise by a quarter February 10, 2013 Sir Rocco Forte’s hotel empire saw sales rise last year but remained in the red for a fourth consecutive year. Rocco Forte Hotels, which owns 13 luxury resorts around the world, reported a 25 per cent rise in turnover to £185m in the year to 30 April 2012 after buying a 50 per cent interest [...]
City Moves for 11 February 2013 | Who’s switching jobs February 10, 2013 Cushman and Wakefield Donald Reid will join the real estate services company as a head of project management and building surveying. Reid has over 17 years’ experience as a qualified building surveyor, and was most recently head of project management at Davis Langdon. Halebury The law firm has announced three new hires. Michelle Harris, a [...]
Best of the Brokers February 10, 2013 THOMAS COOK Morgan Stanley rates the travel group “overweight” and has raised its target price from 60p to 100p after last week’s update. The broker has greater confidence that the firm can turn itself around, based on better than expected cost savings and some signs of growth in the Nordic and German markets. The success [...]
Market braced for bad news in Inflation Report February 10, 2013 ECONOMISTS have warned that markets should be braced for bad news this week as the Bank of England releases its quarterly update on the UK’s financial outlook. “The upcoming Inflation Report is likely to project that inflation will still be clearly above the two per cent target two years ahead, and perhaps not even back [...]
US bull market to face further tests in March February 10, 2013 THE US stock market is no stranger to strong performances in January, only to see the lofty gains early in the year transition into months of grinding action that goes nowhere. That’s what happened in 2011 and 2012, and some analysts think 2013 could follow the same routine. Markets are higher this year in the [...]
Black swans are difficult to predict but we still need maths in finance February 10, 2013 SINCE the 2008 crash, we’ve heard steady criticism of the role of physicists in finance. The terms quants, derivatives and models have all taken on nasty connotations. But if you think about mathematical modelling in the right way, this criticism is wrongheaded. One of the most prominent critiques is an argument from psychology. It suggests [...]
