Aveva warns on growing impact of strong sterling on its trading July 14, 2014 ENGINEERING software Aveva yesterday cautioned that the continued strengthening of the pound would hinder its performance this year, due to its high levels of trading overseas. Despite this currency setback, Aveva said that it maintained a strong balance sheet and has been trading geographically in line with expectations over the past three months. “Since the [...]
BT set to launch mobile offering for businesses July 14, 2014 Telecoms giant BT will this week start paving the way for a re-entry to the consumer mobile phones market when it launches a mobile offering targeting its existing 900,000 small and medium-sized business (SME) customers. BT yesterday sent out invites for Thursday’s event at the BT Tower where it will reveal pricing and packages for [...]
No peace for Sir John, the serial chairman July 14, 2014 Experian chairman Sir John Peace, who last week faced a shareholder revolt as chairman of Burberry, could find himself under fire again this week as investor groups call for a rejection of the credit rating firm’s “excessive” remuneration packages. Peace has already been criticised over his chairmanship of three FTSE 100 listed firms – all [...]
Chelsea to ditch Viagogo for own ticket exchange July 14, 2014 Chelsea Football Club has severed its ties with ticket exchange site Viagogo, ending its nine-year relationship with the firm, in favour of an in-house exchange that doesn’t charge fees. The new system is similar to that of Arsenal, which has operated its own ticket exchange since 2008, and comes after pressure on the club since [...]
British American Tobacco backing $56bn merger July 14, 2014 BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) is set to wade into one of the biggest tobacco deals in the industry’s history this week as it looks to up its stake in Reynolds as part of an expected $56bn (£32.7bn) mega-merger between Lorillard and Reynolds. BAT, which currently holds a 42 per cent stake in Reynolds, on Friday [...]
Ecigarette boom boosts sales of new trademarks by 125pc July 14, 2014 Big tobacco firms registered over 650 new cigarette trademarks last year, a 125 per cent year-on-year jump, as they look to protect their multi-million pound investments in the fast-growing electronic cigarette market. In 2010 just 161 new cigarette trademark registrations were filed in the UK. By 2012 this had risen to 290 and last year [...]
Church of England exorcises its £100,000 indirect stake in Wonga July 10, 2014 The Church of England has sold its indirect stake in payday lender Wonga, worth less than £100,000, ending its embarrassing link to the firm it has repeatedly criticised. In a statement yesterday the Church’s commissioners confirmed that the stake it had held via an investment in a pooled portfolio fund with Accel Partners had [...]
Google to open $100m startup fund in London July 10, 2014 GOOGLE’S startup investment fund has picked London to base its new $100m (£58.4m) European investment arm. Google Ventures has more than $1.5bn invested in 250 startups, which until now have mainly been based in the US. “Google, alongside many other global investors, recognises the incredible skills and opportunities to be found here,” London mayor Boris [...]
Informa swoops for media boss Andrew Mullins in restructuring July 10, 2014 INFORMA, the British publishing and events group, has hired the Evening Standard and Independent newspaper managing director Andrew Mullins as chief executive of its training and conferences arm. This unit has been created as part of a reorganisation of Informa into four new divisions by chief executive Stephen Carter, who took charge in January. Carter [...]
SuperGroup reports super profit of £62m July 10, 2014 Superdry clothes chain owner SuperGroup is gunning for further overseas expansion, its chief executive said yesterday, after reporting profits had soared nearly 19 per cent during the last year. The group’s revenues rocketed 19.6 per cent to £430.9m with profits reaching £62m during the twelve months to 26 April. “We have delivered a solid performance [...]
