Card Factory to deliver £700m float in London April 22, 2014 CARD Factory boss Richard Hayes said yesterday that it hopes to emulate the success of other value retailers such as Poundland after announcing plans for float that could value the group at around £700m. The budget greetings chain, which has 700 stores, intends to raise £90m through an initial public offering that will allow its [...]
City & Gild: How Tesco can make us fall back in love with its brand April 17, 2014 Tesco’s current strategy worries me enormously, especially off the back of a six per cent fall in profits. Chief executive Philip Clarke has confidently explained, “Tesco will be firmly established as a middle-market retailer, which offers low prices and good quality – all under one roof”. My translation of this is essentially, “we’re going to [...]
Stock stampede doubles amount of market floats April 2, 2014 STOCK market flotations around the world doubled last quarter, driven by a near record high in issuance across Europe despite a stall in M&A activity, fresh figures show. The boom in stock market issues means a $4.8bn (£2.9bn) windfall for investment banks around the world, due to fees rising by nearly a third compared to the [...]
Bottom Line: Royal Mail proves markets trump politics March 31, 2014 ON ITS first day as a listed company in February, shares in AO.com rose by 33 per cent. Three weeks later, Poundland followed suit; jumping 23 per cent on its debut and making millionaires of several of its senior managers. Other players in London’s recent initial public offering (IPO) boom haven’t fared so well; Just [...]
Boohoo.com shares hit new low despite 62 per cent leap in sales March 31, 2014 SHARES in Boohoo.com fell briefly below their offer price yesterday for the first time since their market debut, despite the online fashion retailer reporting a jump in full-year revenues. The Manchester-based company had its first day of trading on 14 March and saw shares open at 85p – well above the offer price of 50p. [...]
Boohoo revenue soars 62pc March 31, 2014 Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com finished the year to 28 February with net revenues enjoying a year-on-year rise of 62 per cent to £109m, according to the company's year end trading update. Boohoo.com saw earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the period in line with expectations, increasing 200 per cent on the previous year. [...]
London bounce for new listings on stock debuts March 31, 2014 NEWLY listed shares in London outperform the wider market by 10.5 per cent in the first year according to a new study, sharpening the investment potential of the current crop of firms seeking a listing. Newly listed shares, sold through initial public offerings (IPOs), also outperform their more established rivals over the first six months [...]
Inside Track: JP Morgan is outpacing rivals in UK equity transactions March 28, 2014 WHEN the venerable David Mayhew sold 50 per cent of Cazenove to JP Morgan 10 years ago, there were many who predicted the gradual demise of the influence of that august stockbroking house. After all the City memory bank is filled deep with the names of institutions, such as Warburg, Kleinwort Benson and Smith New [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 26 March 2014 March 25, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Banks pay out $100bn in US fines Wall Street banks and their foreign rivals have paid out $100bn in US legal settlements since the financial crisis, according to Financial Times research, with more than half of the penalties extracted in the past year. The sum reflects a substantial shift in political attitudes towards [...]
Inside Track: In Barclays we trust: Retail investors rely on bank for new issues March 20, 2014 @hellierd There’s a page on the Barclays website that directs customers to the joys of investing in new issues and flotations. It is headlined: “Access investments before they become available on the market.” The trouble is that unless Barclays itself is working on one of the current crop of share issues, it is highly likely [...]