The iconic Empire Theatre in Leicester Square has just been sold to Cineworld July 28, 2016 The historic Empire Theatre in Leicester Square is set to be rebranded after the cinema was today sold to Cineworld. The deal sees Cineworld – the second largest cinema operator in Europe – also take on four other venues outside of London from Empire Cinemas. The Chiswick-based operator paid £94m to Empire through a combination of cash and shares as [...]
Rightmove’s shares just jumped after it reported impressive mobile traffic July 27, 2016 Don't write off the UK's property market quite yet: shares in Rightmove jumped this morning, after it reported a surge in mobile traffic. The figures The property portal said this morning that revenues had jumped 16 per cent to £107.9m in the six months to the end of June, while pre-tax profits rose to £80.6m, from £66.6m last year. It signed [...]
Uncertainty of being given overdraft prevents two thirds of customers from switching current accounts July 27, 2016 Two thirds of current account holders are in the dark about whether they can switch accounts if they are overdrawn, according to new research. Research from uSwitch.com, the price comparison site, found that people do not switch accounts as they are unsure about whether they are able to make the change when overdrawn, despite a [...]
Ladbrokes and Coral must sell off roughly 10 per cent of their joint empire to proceed with a long-planned merger July 26, 2016 Bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral must sell up to 400 shops to proceed with a planned merger, the UK's competition watchdog has ruled. Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group are the UK's second and third largest bookmakers by number of betting shops, operating a total of 4,000 shops across Great Britain, with a further 77 in Northern [...]
Watchdog warns more to be done on “persistent and potentially problematic” levels of credit card debt July 26, 2016 More needs to be done to tackle the UK's "potentially problematic" levels of credit card debt, the financial sector watchdog has warned today. A report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that although competition in the credit card market generally works in the favour of consumers, there is little incentive for providers to help out those [...]
An extra pound a pint? Aberdeen Asset Management’s not impressed by new Megabrew offer July 26, 2016 The Megabrew deal lost its cool today, as some key shareholders revealed they were unimpressed by Anheuser-Busch InBev's latest offer for SABMiller's shares. Aberdeen Asset Management has slammed the offer, which would see AB InBev fork out £45 in cash for each SABMiller share. The new offer, which was announced earlier this morning, is an increase of £1 per [...]
Sainsbury’s gets blessing from competition watchdog for Argos takeover July 22, 2016 Sainsbury’s proposed acquisition of Home Retail Group has been given clearance by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The body said this morning that it would not be referring the deal for further investigation. J Sainsbury agreed a cash and shares deal, then worth £1.4bn, for the Argos owner in April. Read more: Sainsbury's remains committed [...]
FCA emerges from dark pool dip with conflict of interest calls July 21, 2016 Anonymous share trading platforms known as dark pools must improve their handling of conflicts of interest, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said. Dark pools are trading venues which have no pre-trade transparency, hiding and anonymising price and volume of orders. Read more: Barclays and Credit Suisse set to settle over dark pools Dark pools [...]
MPs sound alarm over CMA remedy for energy price comparison sites July 21, 2016 MPs have written to new business secretary Greg Clark, urging him not to implement a Competition and Markets Authority recommendation which would no longer require energy price comparison sites to show potential switchers the whole market. The energy and climate change committee warned that the move could undermine consumer trust in the energy market and strangle competition. [...]
Megabrew deal: US Department of Justice gives clearance to AB InBev’s takeover of SABMiller July 20, 2016 The US Department of Justice has given the green light to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (AB InBev) proposed takeover of British drinks giant SABMiller with conditions. AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, has agreed to divest SABMiller’s interest in MillerCoors to Molson Coors if the “megabrew” takeover goes ahead. In April, a US antitrust organisation flagged "serious competitive [...]