Ocado claims the FTSE 350 crown while Indivior takes a kicking October 2, 2018 Online supermarket Ocado has claimed the top spot in the FTSE 350’s best performers so far this year just months after sealing its place as a FTSE 100 player, with shares soaring after a swathe of new licensing deals. Shares in Ocado have rocketed 126 per cent since the start of 2018, as the firm [...]
South Korean backers splash out £100m for Microsoft HQ October 1, 2018 Microsoft’s vast HQ campus in Reading has been snapped up by a London-based real estate investor and a Korean asset manager for £100m today. Valesco Group and Seoul-headquartered AIP Asset Management have bought the tech firm’s 245,000 square foot park in the run-up to the arrival of Crossrail’s Elizabeth line, which is set to strengthen [...]
DAC Beachcroft unveils plans to merge offices in new City HQ October 1, 2018 Global law firm DAC Beachcroft is to merge its City offices under one roof next year, in a move to create a new global headquarters in the heart of the Square Mile. Roughly 50,000 square feet will be taken up in Beachcroft’s move to The Walbrook building, where its team of lawyers are expected to [...]
Losses take a bite out of Deliveroo buzz but revenue soars amid global expansion October 1, 2018 Deliveroo’s pre-tax losses widened despite another year of booming sales in 2017, in a sign of the firm’s ambitions to bear the brunt of short-term losses for a greater slice of the UK’s increasingly competitive food delivery market. Losses before tax hit £184.7m in the 12 months of 2017, slumping from £129m the year before, with [...]
Self-storage giant Shurgard gears up for €2bn-€2.4bn listing amid plans to fund Kensington store October 1, 2018 Europe’s largest owner and operator of self-storage centres revealed plans for a €2bn (£1.78bn) float on Euronext Brussels this morning. Luxemburg-based Shurgard, which owns a swathe of European facilities, including 28 in London and the Thames Valley, is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO) which will partially go towards financing the expected acquisition of a Kensington [...]
Mortgage approvals hit seven-month high but caution lingers as year-on-year growth dips October 1, 2018 The number of mortgages being approved hit a seven-month high in August, suggesting a modest pick-up in buyers after the traditional summer slowdown. According to the latest Bank of England (BoE) statistics out today, mortgage approvals climbed to 66,440 last month, marking the highest level since January 2018. However, housing experts remained cautious on the [...]
May’s stamp duty tax on foreign buyers forces down FTSE developers’ share prices October 1, 2018 More than half a billion pounds was wiped off the value of some of the UK’s largest housebuilders today, as the City digested news of Theresa May’s planned property tax on foreign buyers. Shares in Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey all slid in the wake of the Prime Minister’s weekend announcement to slap [...]
Mitie sheds pest control business amid efforts to restructure October 1, 2018 Outsourcing group Mitie revealed plans to offload its £40m pest control business this morning, as it ramps up efforts to restructure the business in the wake of several profit warnings. The FTSE 250 firm said it would sell its pest control arm to business services giant Rentokil Initial as it seeks to plough more of [...]
US and Canada ease trade fears with last-minute deal to revamp Nafta October 1, 2018 Canada struck a dramatic eleventh-hour trade deal with the US and Mexico last night, putting an end to a year of tense economic negotiations in North America. In an effort to revamp the current North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the three countries reached a trilateral agreement only hours before a midnight deadline, quelling threats [...]
Bull market: New version of Wall Street’s iconic ‘Charging Bull’ goes under the hammer later this week October 1, 2018 A new version of the Charging Bull, the dramatic sculpture which has become a symbol of Wall Street, goes on sale in London this week. The highly-polished bronze by Arturo di Modica features in the sale of 20th century and contemporary art by auctioneers Phillips on Thursday, City A.M. can reveal. At 6ft long the [...]