Banks hired as first stage in esure’s London listing October 5, 2011 THE INSURANCE tycoon Peter Wood has lined up bankers to prepare a bumper listing of esure, reports last night said. Wood, who also founded the car insurer Direct Line, is said to have hired Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to help ready the company for a stock market flotation that is being earmarked for next [...]
Merrill broking star Fraser set to step down October 5, 2011 SIMON Fraser, one of the broking stars at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is retiring from the City at the end of the year. The bank has not yet made an official announcement but Fraser’s clients, which include Man, Meggitt and Capital Shopping Centres, have all been informed. The strong broking business at the firm [...]
Premier Oil to buy North Sea rival EnCore October 5, 2011 PREMIER OIL, the FTSE 250-listed oil company, is expanding its North Sea presence with a £221m cash deal to buy rival EnCore Oil. The potential takeover will increase Premier’s stake in the Catcher field – one of the largest discoveries in the UK North Sea in recent years – from 35 to 50 per cent. [...]
Rothschild shell in talks on debt restructuring October 5, 2011 BUMI, the mining group founded last year by billionaire financier Nathaniel Rothschild (pictured), said it was in talks over a possible restructuring of a debt facility. “Bumi has been informed that the facility will be due for repayment in the near future and that the borrowers are currently in discussions with a view to restructuring [...]
Microsoft may bid for Yahoo October 5, 2011 SOFTWARE giant Microsoft is considering making a fresh bid for Yahoo in its second attempt to buy the troubled internet company in three years, sources close to the situation told Reuters yesterday. Microsoft joins a number of other potential buyers looking at Yahoo, which has a market value of about $18bn (£11.7bn). Among the interested [...]
CITY STAR FORCES UP MAGNIER’S NEXT BID October 5, 2011 HE MAY yet succeed in snapping up Mitchells & Butlers on the cheap, but there were no bargains for racing tycoon John Magnier at the Tattersalls bloodstock auction in Newmarket yesterday. Forcing Magnier’s hand on Lot 35 was Lawrie Inman, the 30-year-old superstar futures trader, whose bid of 500,000 guineas pushed the Irish billionaire into [...]
SuperGroup in £9m profit warning hit October 5, 2011 SUPERGROUP yesterday shocked the City by revealing that its full-year profits will be hit by up to £9m after a supply problem at a key warehouse. The company, best known for its Superdry brand, saw its shares dive almost 30 per cent after the announcement. It said there had not been enough stock in its [...]
Trouble at home could hit global growth October 5, 2011 THE British tend to hate a success story, so the news yesterday of Supergroup’s supply problems and expected profit hit was inevitably met with we-told-you-so themed musings on the danger of rapid growth. Chief executive Julian Dunkerton’s attempts to reassure investors seem to have fallen on deaf ears – shares closed at just 707p yesterday, [...]
Mothercare raises alarm as its sales continue spiral downwards October 5, 2011 MOTHERCARE has sent further shockwaves through the retail sector by revealing its UK sales have been “well below” expectations. The retailer said a downturn in consumer confidence seen following the UK riots continued to knock trading over the last month. In an update that triggered a 42 per cent slump in its shares, Mothercare said [...]
Tesco sees UK sales hit by shopper woes October 5, 2011 TESCO yesterday reported its weakest six-monthly UK sales growth figures for 20 years as higher food and fuel costs took their toll on household budgets. UK like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, fell by 0.5 per cent in the six months to 27 August. The retailer said that underlying sales of food were up but [...]
