Amazon’s Fire launches in the UK September 8, 2014 AMAZON’S Fire smartphone, the online retailer’s first foray into the crowded smartphone market, will go on sale in the UK on 30 September following its US launch in June. Amazon yesterday announced it has partnered exclusively with O2 to launch the phone which will be free on a £33 a month contract. The Fire features [...]
Phones 4U eyes sale after conscious uncoupling with Vodafone September 7, 2014 All options are being considered at struggling high street mobile retailer Phones 4U after the firm was dropped by its key partner Vodafone in favour of a deeper contract with rival retailer Carphone Warehouse. During a call with the firm’s investors last Monday chief executive David Kassler said deep cost-cutting or a sale or merger [...]
Nisa’s strong results mask 2014 challenges September 7, 2014 NISA Retail, the independent shop supplier, saw its turnover jump 10 per cent to £1.6bn during the year to March, with profits rising to £5.3m. The results, from the group’s companies house filing, disguise the challenging year that Nisa has seen since March. In July Costcutter changed its supplier from Nisa to Palmer and Harvey, [...]
Alibaba listing’s legal fees set to dwarf Facebook September 7, 2014 ALIBABA, the Chinese e-commerce giant that sells more than Amazon and Ebay combined and is seeking to raise over $21bn (£12.8bn) in its float this month, will pay some of the highest legal fees for a US listing, six times what Facebook paid two years ago. The legal fees for Alibaba’s public listing, $15.8m according [...]
CBeebies schools to open in China as part of BBC tie-up with Popular September 7, 2014 THE BBC’S commercial arm has signed a deal with Singapore-based Popular Holdings to roll out a chain of CBeebies-branded English-language schools across China. Starting with openings in Shanghai, followed by Beijing and across mainland China and Hong Kong over the coming years, the deal will see the BBC receive licensing fees from the use of [...]
Rakuten eyeing £580m deal for US voucher firm September 7, 2014 RAKUTEN, the Japanese e-commerce giant and owner of messaging app Viber and Play.com, is in the final stage of talks to buy US cashback shopping service Ebates in an estimated ¥100bn (£581.8m) transaction. The takeover is expected to give Rakuten further exposure to the US market as part of the aggressive overseas expansion it has [...]
Currency exchange group named Britain’s fastest-growing tech firm September 7, 2014 LMAX Exchange, the provider of an exchange-based currency trading platform, has been named Britain’s fastest-growing private technology company by Fast Track, after its annual sales rose 307.8 per cent over the past three years to £18.37m last year. The firm ranked fifteenth last year when Fast Track’s list of the 100 fastest-growing companies was published [...]
Alibaba is a moment of truth for US investors eyeing China – Bottom Line September 7, 2014 Alibaba’s long-awaited $200bn float looks set to be a game of two halves. On the one hand we have one of the largest technology floats of all time as the firm looks to raise $21bn from the public market. The float will prompt some of the highest legal fees of the last decade, and undoubtedly [...]
Shares slide after US judge blames BP and paves way for £11bn fines September 4, 2014 OIL GIANT BP has been described by a US judge as “grossly negligent” for its role in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico four years ago, in a ruling that could add $18bn (£11bn) in fines to the more than $42bn in charges taken so far for the worst offshore disaster in US [...]
Lego towers over Mattel in battle to become the biggest toymaker in the world due to summer movie success September 4, 2014 LEGO has become the world’s largest toy maker after the success of this year’s Lego Movie saw sales of related products soar sending profits up 12 per cent to 3.6bn Danish kroner (£386.5m). Revenues at the Danish firm rose 11 per cent during the first six months of the year to 11.5bn Danish kroner. The [...]
