Inside Track: Foxtons nears a crucial decision on its upcoming float September 5, 2013 THE FORTHCOMING flotation of Foxtons, the ultra entrepreneurial London-focused estate agency, is to move a step closer this weekend with the setting of a price range for the new shares that will shortly be coming onto the stock market if all goes well. Management’s investor roadshow begins properly on Monday and will take in London, [...]
David Lloyd sold to private equity fund September 5, 2013 HEALTH and fitness club David Lloyd Leisure (DLL) yesterday outlined an ambitious £50m expansion plan after being sold to UK private equity firm TDR Capital for just under £750m. The business, founded by former tennis ace David Lloyd over 30 years ago, said it has over 20 new centres in the pipeline across the country [...]
Euston property owner clinches £80m financing in spite of HS2 September 1, 2013 SYDNEY & London Properties has sealed an £80m refinancing deal for three office blocks fronting Euston Station, the planned terminus for HS2 and Britain’s sixth busiest railway station. Lloyds Bank has agreed to refinance One Euston Square and two office blocks known as the Podium and the Tower at One Eversholt Street for a further [...]
Whisky wonderland September 1, 2013 Scotland’s Jura may be remote, but it sure knows its drink THE Edinburgh Festival may finish today, but there’s still reason to head north of the border. Richard Paterson, Master Blender for the past 40 years at Glasgow-based whisky producer Whyte & Mackay (makers of Jura whisky), is a third generation whisky man who has [...]
Governor stands firm on plan for UK interest rates August 28, 2013 INTEREST rates could stay at rock bottom even after unemployment falls below seven per cent, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said yesterday. In a bid to convince sceptical markets he really is serious about keeping rates down for the next three years, Carney said he would look for a wide range of evidence that [...]
City Moves for 28 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 27, 2013 Kleinwort Benson The private bank and wealth manager has appointed Joakim Gasslander as senior private banker in its private wealth management team. Based in London, he was previously senior private banker at Lloyds Private Banking. Gasslander has also held roles at Gadd & Co and SEB Private Bank in Stockholm, and has particular experience advising [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 August 2013 August 26, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES MPs step up campaign to break up RBS MPs are stepping up their campaign for a break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland amid suspicions in Westminster that RBS and Treasury officials will try to scupper a good bank-bad bank split. In a letter in today’s Financial Times, the influential Parliamentary Commission on Banking [...]
Consumer confidence rises as house market upswing unfolds August 22, 2013 CONSUMER spending power hit a fresh high in July, after steady gains through the year so far, according to a survey by Lloyds TSB. Optimism about the housing market drove the improvement, with sentiment ramping up around the UK, despite remaining concerns about financial pressure. Last month, 34 per cent of people had positive opinions [...]
Amlin takes a hit as European flood payouts dent bottom line August 19, 2013 INSURER Amlin yesterday announced a fall in first-half profits after floods in central Europe required it make hefty payouts for catastrophe claims. The second biggest Lloyd’s of London insurer declared pre-tax profits of £161.4m for first the first six months of 2013, down 17 per cent on the same period last year. This was mainly due [...]
Mix it up: Wake up and smell the Kahlua: a remedy to the daily grind August 13, 2013 IN 17th century Britain, coffee houses sprung up across London. Idle gossip, radical ideas and business matters were traded freely between men of diverse wealth and class. Unsurprisingly, those with the most to lose were not keen on this outpouring of freedom. Charles II’s edict tried to rid the country of the “very evil and [...]