Top RAC staff in line for £300m listing windfall August 17, 2014 SENIOR executives at RAC are set to share a windfall of up to £300m if the breakdown recovery service decides to push ahead with its expected float next month. Plans to list on the London Stock Exchange would put the group’s top managers in line to benefit from their combined 15 per cent stake in [...]
Woodford takes 30pc stake in online estate agent Purplebricks August 17, 2014 Star fund manager Neil Woodford has taken a £7m stake in Purplebricks.com, an online estate agency, in his new fund’s biggest investment in a private firm to date. Purplebricks, which was founded by brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce, aims to undercut agents’ sales commission with a fixed fee of £599 and offer a 24-hour service. [...]
Lastminute.com-owner Sabre eyeing up sale of the travel site August 17, 2014 Travel website Lastminute.com is reportedly up for sale by its owner, US technology group Sabre Holdings. According to Sky News, Sabre has appointed bankers from advisory group Houlihan Lokey to oversee an auction for Lastminute.com, which it bought for £577m for in 2005. “We are always reviewing options to make our technology company as successful, [...]
More pubs than ever are picking BT Sport over rival Sky Sports August 17, 2014 More pubs now subscribe to BT Sport than Sky Sports, according to the former state monopoly, as its £2bn investment in building a sports TV empire continues. In May, BT said more than 19,000 pubs, clubs and commercial properties had signed up for its sports service, putting BT neck-and-neck with Sky Sports, BT’s consumer division [...]
New Xbox and PS4 send sales soaring at Game August 14, 2014 GAME Digital, the high street video games retailer, revealed a strong set of sales during the past year in its first trading update as a public company yesterday, helped by high demand for the launch of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony. The group reported a 30 per cent bump in total sales during the [...]
Casinos strike it lucky for Rank as its profits are reduced by VAT fine August 14, 2014 MECCA bingo operator Rank Group saw revenues jump 13 per cent last year, boosted by the acquisition of 19 casinos from its rival Gala Coral. The new venues generated £107.2m lifting total revenues to £707.7m. Following a “challenging” first half of the year, Rank’s operating profit rose 21 per cent during the second half. However, [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Game Digital’s full-year trading update? August 14, 2014 SIMON DAVIES | CANACCORD GENUITY The hoped-for improvement in cash flows following the IPO has come through more quickly than anticipated, which points to potentially more one-off returns of cash to shareholders. We see a strong pipeline of new game releases for 2015, supporting strong growth of next generation consoles expands. SANJAY VIDYARTHI | LIBERUM [...]
Cineworld lifted by Cinema City revenue growth August 14, 2014 CINEWORLD, the largest cinema operator in the UK, reported a 33 per cent bump in revenues during the first half of the year, after its £900m takeover of European chain Cinema City helped offset weaker UK ticket sales. The Lego Movie, The Wolf of Wall Street and Twelve Years a Slave helped UK revenues to [...]
7Digital agrees £1m deal with BlackBerry to keep the music August 14, 2014 Online music group 7Digital has signed a deal with struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry to provide music services for the group for the next year, just a month after its recently floated shares stumbled upon BlackBerry’s decision to close its music and video offerings. 7Digital’s share price halved in June after its largest customer announced it [...]
Berlin bans Uber citing passenger safety rules August 14, 2014 THE BATTLE between smartphone car service Uber and city regulators heated up yesterday after the German capital turned against the San Francisco startup and banned the mini cab app on safety grounds. In a press release, the Berlin State Department of Civil and Regulatory Affairs said Uber risked passenger safety through the use of “unverified [...]
