Electrocomponents hammered by sterling movements as chief executive to step down November 13, 2014 THE BRITISH distributor of electronic products for engineers, Electrocomponents, posted 2.8 per cent revenue growth to £616.4m in the first half of the year to 30 September yesterday. However, it saw a 16.1 per cent slump in profits hit by fewer trading days and currency movements. Long-serving boss Ian Mason, who announced his departure from [...]
Reed to buy US healthcare data business to boost Lexis Nexis November 13, 2014 EUROPE’S largest media group Reed Elsevier yesterday agreed to buy a US healthcare data firm, in a deal City A.M. understands to be worth around $150m (£95.27m), to boost its Lexis Nexis business in the world’s largest healthcare market. Health Market Science is data supplier for healthcare professionals in the US with a vast medical [...]
Sky cuts British part of name in European deal November 13, 2014 BRITISH and Broadcasting has been dropped by Britain’s largest Pay TV operator BSkyB as it adopted Sky as its official name yesterday after completing the £7bn takeover of its European sister companies, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. Sky, now Europe’s largest entertainment company, said the change was “to recognise the international scope of the business” [...]
ITV outperforms but there is a lack of audience November 13, 2014 BROADCASTER ITV celebrated its “best outperformance of the market for five years” yesterday, as the company saw broadcast ad revenues rise six per cent “well ahead of the UK television advertising market”, according to its chief executive. However, ITV said falling audience numbers were an area of concern as its channels’ ratings fell short of [...]
Bwin.party looks to gamble on talks over possible £1bn takeover November 12, 2014 ONLINE gaming company Bwin.party announced yesterday it was in early talks with a number of unnamed parties concerning a potential offer for the company, which could value it at just over £1bn. The Gibraltar-headquartered firm issued the statement in response to speculation over a possible takeover. Its shares closed up 10.48 per cent at 119.1p [...]
O2 boasts of 3m 4G customers as it soars past Vodafone and lands behind EE November 12, 2014 Telefonica’s UK network O2 added 319,000 new users in the third quarter, giving the UK’s second largest operator a customer base of over 24m. Chief executive Ronan Dunne told reporters that this figure now included more than 3m 4G customers, nearly double Vodafone’s 1.4m 4G customers, putting the network in solid second place behind EE’s [...]
Colt eyeing £100m Japanese data centre acquisition of KVH November 12, 2014 Telecoms group Colt is planning a €130.3m (£102.7m) takeover of Tokyo-based data centre firm KVH, a move it says will help it to grow in key Asian cities and deliver services across the region. Colt said the takeover, if approved by shareholders, would be funded by existing cash and bank facilities of the company. “They [...]
CSR investors await takeover November 12, 2014 SOON-to-be-Qualcomm-owned British microchip-maker CSR yesterday posted a 16 per cent decline in third quarter revenues to $212.2m (£134m). However, it saw its share price rise as the majority of the fall was restricted to its legacy home entertainment and handset businesses. Shares rose 0.73 per cent to 833.50p on news that CSR’s underlying profit for [...]
Connect Group buys Tuffnells in £130m takeover November 12, 2014 Newspaper and magazine whole-saler Connect Group yesterday ann oun ced a nearly-£130m deal to takeover Tuffnells Parcels Express, saying that it has a “strong strategic fit” with its business. The deal consists of an initial £113.4m, funded through Connect’s ex ist ing debt facilities, and a £55m rights issue, and an additional £15.3m over [...]
Vodafone’s UK broadband plan to counter BT: “If they come harsh on mobile, we will come harsh” November 11, 2014 Vodafone is preparing to take BT head on next year, when it launches broadband and TV offerings in the UK to challenge the former state monopoly’s plan to encroach on its turf with a mobile service. Chief executive Vittorio Colao did not say how Vodafone would price its broadband or TV when it launches in [...]
