Mary Portas hits back over lobbying claims September 2, 2013 RETAIL expert Mary Portas yesterday hit back at critics of her review of the high streets and rejected claims that she had lobbied the government to pick Portas Pilots towns that would be popular with TV audiences. When asked by one member of the communities and local government select committee yesterday whether, together with her [...]
Long summer boosts August retail sales September 2, 2013 UK RETAIL sales continued their strong run in August after the summer heatwave helped sales smash expectations the previous month. Total sales increased by 3.6 per cent in value last month compared with a year ago, when sales were up 1.6 per cent, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG released [...]
Anglo Irish Bank flogs off art collection September 2, 2013 THE LIQUIDATION of failed former Anglo Irish Bank kicks off today – with the sale of its contemporary Irish art collection. The auction, at Dublin’s 125-year old auctioneer Adam’s, will raise money to pay back taxpayers who helped prop up the bank. The sale represents the first step in the liquidation of the bank, which [...]
Firms circle Spanish banking unit September 2, 2013 US PRIVATE equity group Centerbridge and London-based Anacap are among the bidders in late-stage talks to buy one of Spain’s smaller nationalised lenders, it emerged last night. The two firms are in a consortium, and one other US buyout group is also in the running to buy EVO Banco, a subsidiary of state-rescued NCG Banco. [...]
Conviviality Retail buys Wine Rack September 2, 2013 Conviviality Retail, the Bargain Booze chain owner that recently listed on Aim, has bought a London-based off-licence chain to boost its footprint in the capital. The north west-based company announced yesterday it has acquired Wine Rack and its 22 stores for £1.65m in cash. Conviviality, which runs over 610 convenience stores, raised around £64m in [...]
ThyssenKrupp denies sale veto September 2, 2013 Germany’s ThyssenKrupp has denied a media report that it planned to scrap the sale of its Steel Americas business, the loss-making unit it has tried for more than a year to offload. “The sales process is continuing,” a spokesman for the steel maker said late yesterday. In an article to be published today in German [...]
Nationwide and Lloyds head up jump in lending September 2, 2013 LENDING increased in the second quarter for the first time since the Bank of England launched its cheap funding scheme a year ago, official figures showed yesterday. The Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) gives cheap funding to banks on the basis they then lend it on to businesses and households. If their net lending falls, [...]
Investors flood into floating rate corporate debt in bet on recovery September 2, 2013 FLOATING rate bond issuance has jumped sharply in the last eight months, Fitch Ratings said yesterday, as the market starts to recover from the aftermath of the financial crisis. Investors are increasingly expecting interest rates to rise and so do not want to be locked into fixed rate instruments, the ratings agency believes. Interest rates [...]
LSE gunning for first tech IPO on new platform September 2, 2013 AS LONDON gears up for the first floats on the new High Growth Segment, experts in fast-growing firms have said that a handful of extra analysts and investors could enable the platform to rival the Nasdaq for technology listings. A growing number of tech companies are being courted by the HGS, which was launched by [...]
Lenovo boss shares the spoils by splitting bonus with employees September 2, 2013 LENOVO’s chief executive will share his $3.25m (£2m) bonus with employees for the second year running. Yang Yuanqing will distribute the money to around 10,000 workers to recognise their contribution to the business, in a move seen as unusual for a Chinese company. The payment will amount to more than £200 per employee. Yang was [...]
