Law firm DWF raises £95m in first-ever main market legal listing March 11, 2019 Law firm DWF has today raised £95m in the first main market float for a law firm, valuing the business at £366m. DWF is by far the largest of the handful of law firms to have listed on the stock market and is the first firm with a large international footprint to have gone public. [...]
The UK’s competition policy must be fit for a world of tech giants and hidden cartels March 11, 2019 Competition is the oxygen of the capitalist system. From Adam Smith on, there have been warnings of the threats to economic health if competition is restricted by would-be monopolists or cartels. In the UK, the system is policed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It rarely hits the headlines except for occasional controversial cases like [...]
Non-Standard Finance targets Provident takeover despite rejected bid March 8, 2019 Sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance is continuing to target a takeover of troubled rival firm Provident despite its offer being rejected, the company revealed in its full-year results this morning. The figures Read more: Provident Financial resolves regulation issues with City watchdog Revenue increased 47 per cent to £158.8m from 107.7m in the 12 months to [...]
A market cap is the quickest way to inject some competition into audit March 7, 2019 As you read this, the Kingman review, the Competition and Markets Authority review, the Brydon review, and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee are all scrutinising the audit profession following a series of high-profile scandals. Failures such as Carillion, BHS, and Patisserie Valerie present very different problems, but each case rightly led to [...]
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei sues US government after federal equipment ban in wake of spying claims March 7, 2019 Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei has sued the US government, saying a law introduced in August which limits its US business is unconstitutional. The embattled telecoms maker filed a complaint in a federal court in Texas on Thursday against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), part of which prevents federal agencies and their contractors from [...]
Bauer Media acquires ten regional radio stations amid competition probe March 5, 2019 Bauer Media has snapped up a further ten regional radio stations as it faces a competition probe into its spate of acquisitions earlier in the year. The media giant today said it has bought UKRD Group, which owns stations across Yorkshire, East Anglia, the south and the south west of England. Read more: Bauer Media [...]
Competition regulator preparing to launch fresh court action against Viagogo March 5, 2019 Controversial ticket reseller Viagogo has been slapped with a fresh warning this afternoon from Britain’s competition regulator, which is threatening legal action in the wake of continued concerns over the firm’s practices. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said today that it is preparing to take Viagogo to court after saying that it is [...]
Aldi sales soar as Sainsbury’s slips behind rivals in supermarket shopping league March 5, 2019 Aldi and Lidl have boosted sales again, it emerged today, as the biggest supermarkets continued to shed market share to the discounters. Aldi’s sales grew by 10 per cent in the three months to the end of February compared to the same period the year before, according to figures released today by Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer insights [...]
Financial Conduct Authority confirms rent-to-own price cap implementation March 5, 2019 A price cap on the cost of buying household goods through rent-to-own deals will be introduced next month, the City watchdog has confirmed. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which announced a crackdown on the sector in November last year, has set a price cap of 100 per cent on the interest customers can be charged in a move [...]
Ex-Which magazine director joins Financial Conduct Authority board March 4, 2019 The former executive director of Which magazine, Richard Lloyd, will become a non-executive director of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 April, it was announced today. His term at the FCA, which is the independent conduct regulator for 58,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, will last three years. Read [...]