Competition authorities could weigh on Ball’s bid to buy out rival can firm Rexam February 5, 2015 The scale of the potential merger between can-making giants Rexam and Ball could lead to problems with competition regulators. US giant Ball is only slightly larger than FTSE 250 firm Rexam, and comprise the two largest businesses in the sector globally. The proposed £4.3bn buyout could make sense in extending Ball’s reach globally. [...]
Aer Lingus loses passengers but wins EU lawsuit February 5, 2015 BOTH Aer Lingus and rival EasyJet have posted disappointing passenger numbers for the first month of 2015. The Irish flag carrier said mainline passenger numbers fell 4.5 per cent year-on-year in January to 546,000. Aer Lingus, which is subject to a potential takeover bid from British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG), said its long-haul [...]
How London is leading the charge on a radical employee rent scheme February 5, 2015 Two years ago, Vodafone became one of the first big businesses to issue a warning over Britain’s housing costs. It said that the sheer cost of renting was making it harder for firms to attract talent. Within weeks, its concerns were echoed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and KPMG’s London Business Survey. London’s [...]
Pensions shake-up could give savers £100k boost when fee cap is introduced in April February 4, 2015 Savers paying into a pension could save up to £100,000 once a new cap on fees is introduced in April. Charges for those automatically enrolled in a workplace pension will be capped at 0.75 per cent a year compared to current average annual charges of 1.5 per cent used to cover the costs associated with [...]
CRH share prices rises as Irish aggregates firm nets Holcim Lafarge assets February 2, 2015 Irish building materials group CRH’s deal to buy the assets being offloaded by cement firms Holcim and Lafarge ahead of their planned merger was “too good to turn down”, the company’s chief executive Albert Manifold said yesterday. CRH announced on Sunday that it had entered into a binding commitment with Holcim and Lafarge to acquire [...]
With P2P lending passing £1bn in 2014, is it a real alternative to traditional financial services? February 1, 2015 Christine Farnish is chair of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association, says Yes. Alternative finance is growing and the current regulatory and consumer environment in the UK means it is set to grow even further. Last week, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Finance Association put out figures showing that, in 2014, our members had lent more than £1.2bn in [...]
McDonald’s Big Cheese: UK makeover chief Steve Easterbrook now has the whole world on his plate January 29, 2015 Steve Easterbrook, who used to play cricket at Durham University alongside ex-England captain Nasser Hussain, has long been viewed as one of McDonald’s star players – obtaining a captaincy of his own yesterday at the world’s biggest fast food chain. McDonald’s new Watford-born chief executive will take on the challenging task of reviving the group’s [...]
Mobile market activity booms as Sky eyes deal with O2 or Vodafone January 26, 2015 Mobile consolidation is set to be a hot topic again this week as European pay-TV operator Sky has been linked in talks with O2 and Vodafone to launch its own mobile offering on one of their networks. The talks come as BT races to finalise more details around its £12.5bn takeover of EE, which it [...]
Tax competition is good for Europe: Don’t let Jean-Claude Juncker muddy the waters January 21, 2015 At the end of last week, the European Commission disclosed a preliminary finding that Amazon’s tax arrangements in Luxembourg could have constituted “state aid”. While Amazon has said that it had received no special treatment, this is not good news for the Duchy’s former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, now president of the Commission. Yet the [...]
Pure Gym hires ex-Wiggle boss Humphrey Cobbold January 20, 2015 Budget fitness chain Pure Gym is making sure it stays in shape after hiring the former boss of Wiggle, the online cycling retailer, to become its new chief executive. Humphrey Cobbold, who stepped down as chief executive of Wiggle in 2013, has taken over the reins from Pure Gym’s founder Peter Roberts, who is now [...]