Better Capital writes down two firms and sells Reader’s Digest February 17, 2014 BETTER Capital, the company led by private equity veteran Jon Moulton, yesterday said it would have to write down the value of companies held in one of its portfolios after poor trading. The company said that office supply company Spicers would see lower revenues this year than last year due to problems at its distribution [...]
Footfall rises but high street is still losing out February 17, 2014 HIGH-STREET shops have failed to make any gains from improved footfall in January’s sales, continuing to slip behind other platforms for bricks and mortar retailers. A boost to sales following Christmas didn’t translate into more traffic for high streets, according to new figures released today by Springboard and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – but [...]
Cara Delevingne launches new Mulberry range February 17, 2014 MULBERRY has unveiled a new collection of bags in collaboration with model Cara Delevingne, as the luxury group attempts to revive its fortunes after issuing a second profit warning in less than a year last month. The Cara Delevingne Bag, which was launched yesterday as part of London Fashion Week, is the latest in a [...]
Brothers who built brand with purpose February 16, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks travelling, Topman, and the English weather with Rob Forkan – the tsunami orphan who co-founded new flip flop brand Gandys INNOCENT may have pioneered a whole new approach to marketing (the company has even published a book about its “story,” and “what they’ve learned”), but no business tale will ever be as [...]
Smith all smiles as Exiles ease away day blues February 16, 2014 LONDON Irish director of rugby Brian Smith believes his side’s 23-20 victory at London Wasps was even better than last week’s triumph at Saracens as the Exiles recorded back-to-back away wins in Aviva Premiership Rugby for the first time since 2010. Smith’s side picked up where they left off at Allianz Park, scoring two early [...]
This week’s 4 must-see charts February 14, 2014 The gaping chasm between Mark Carney’s messaging and market expectations of future rate hikes, suspicious Chinese statistics, the sudden devaluation of Kazakhstan's tenge, and Janet Yellen's labour market worries. We bring you some of our favourite analyst’s picks of the most important graphs this week, as well as a choice of our own. Jeremy Cook, [...]
This may change your mind about who’s going to win the Premier League February 13, 2014 Chelsea may occupy top spot in the Premier League, Manchester City remain the bookmakers’ favourites to win the title in May and Arsenal are hanging in there (somehow), but Liverpool are currently the best team in the division. That’s according to Kickdex, a stats-based index that assigns a value to every team and player in [...]
Pressure on Wm Morrison rises on buyout talks February 12, 2014 SIR KEN Morrison said yesterday that he had no knowledge of any talks between his family’s trusts and private equity firms to take Morrisons private. According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, the Morrison family has approached several private equity firms including Apax, Carlyle Group and CVC Capital with the view of taking Britain’s fourth largest [...]
Morrisons shares are buzzing on this takeover rumour February 12, 2014 Morrisons shares jumped over five per cent this morning on rumours that the founding family is planning to take the company private. According to Bloomberg, a number of private equity firms have been approached to see if any is interested in a buyout, which would be valued at over £7bn. Reported names include CVC Capital [...]
Landlords fight retailer Game over rent rules February 9, 2014 LANDLORDS and computer games seller Game will head to the Court of Appeal this week to find out whether the retailer owes rent for the first three months after its collapse into administration in March 2012. Four of the country’s biggest shop landlords – Hammerson, British Land, Intu and Land Securities – argue that the [...]