Cameron calls upon Lords to boost trade October 15, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron is today expected to hand trade roles to prominent peers as part of a wider plan to boost the UK’s overseas trade. Under the plans, first reported by Sky News, leading members of the House of Lords will be allocated specific countries or regions and asked to exploit their connections to help [...]
Polling firm YouGov pays first divi as brand monitoring grows October 15, 2012 ONLINE pollster YouGov yesterday announced its first dividend after benefiting from growth at its brand-monitoring business. The Aim-listed company will pay investors 0.5p a share after growing revenues by four per cent to £58.1m in the year to 31 July. Profits were up six per cent at £5.6m. YouGov made its name with political polling, [...]
LVMH suffers third quarter slowdown October 15, 2012 The worldwide boom in luxury goods appeared to be slowing down yesterday, as LVMH revealed sales grew just six per cent into the third quarter – after eight per cent growth in the second quarter, and 12 per cent growth in the first quarter. The drop came from reduced demand for high-end goods, said the [...]
Palio to float its £150m debt fund in London October 15, 2012 DEBT investor Palio Capital Partners, headed by former Gresham Private Equity managing director Michael Henebery, yesterday unveiled plans to float a fund in London aimed at tapping debt-starved small and medium sized enterprises. Palio UK Mid-Market Debt Fund is seeking to raise more than £150m from investors for the fund, which is set to list [...]
Cinven draws on new funds to buy latest pharma firm October 15, 2012 CINVEN, the European private equity giant, yesterday announced it had bought UK pharmaceutical firm Amdipharm in a bespoke deal using cash raised for its new Cinven V flagship fund. The £367m purchase of the family owned business follows on from the acquisition in August of another healthcare business, Mercury Pharma from HgCapital for £465m. Cinven [...]
Permira set for Iglo finance restructure October 15, 2012 IGLO Group, the maker of Birds Eye frozen foods owned by private equity firm Permira, is set to restructure its finances by extending its loan maturity and issuing more debt to boost the company’s growth potential. Permira is set to get the thumbs up from its lenders to extend the maturity of €1.4bn (£1.12bn) of [...]
Grant Thornton lifts revenues by 10 per cent October 15, 2012 PROFESSIONAL services firm Grant Thornton yesterday revealed a 10.6 per cent rise in revenues for the year to 30 June, led by growth in its recovery and reorganisation arm. Profits before tax rose by £1m, but average distributable profit per partner dipped slightly to £335,000, two per cent lower than last year, which the firm [...]
Luxury goods market is braced for a slowdown October 15, 2012 GROWTH in the global luxury goods market is set to slump by more than half this year as Chinese shoppers cut back on spending and tough economic conditions take their toll on consumers in the Eurozone. A report by business consultancy Bain and the Italian luxury goods trade body Altagamma yesterday predicted that sales will [...]
Tattersalls sale attracts wealth of racing fans October 15, 2012 CITY horse racing fans, of which there are no doubt many, may have been following the Tattersalls yearling sale last week with a speculative eye. This was certainly the case for Bernard Kantor of Investec and Martin Hughes of Cheviot Asset Management, who were both spotted at the old auction house. Tatts, by no means [...]
Start a business? Yes you Caan October 15, 2012 BUSINESSMAN, philanthropist and television personality James Caan has flown the Dragon’s nest and is to host his own entrepreneurial-themed show on CNBC. The Capitalist paid a visit to the bearded former Dragon on set at The Business Class studio, ahead of the show’s debut tomorrow evening. When asked the dreaded “how does this programme compare [...]
