BrewDog: This well-known craft beer brewer doesn’t want to benefit from the ill-gotten gains of your filthy corporate greed April 13, 2016 BrewDog's bark against the big drinks industry just got louder. The fiercely independent, Aberdeen-based craft brewer amended its constitution so that it can never be sold to a "monolithic purveyor of bland industrial beer", at the company's AGM last weekend. BrewDog announced the motion in a blog post on its website in December 2015. Titled "Nailing [...]
JP Morgan’s profit has dipped though it has still managed to beat analyst expectations in the first quarter April 13, 2016 JP Morgan has surprised investors with its latest results coming in ahead of expectations. Overall profits came in at $1.35 a per share, on revenue of $24.1bn (£16.92bn). Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.24 on revenue of $23.80bn, according to a Bloomberg poll. This time last year JP Morgan, the largest bank in [...]
Sports Direct bags Oxford Street address for high end retailer Flannels April 12, 2016 Times might be tough for Sports Direct at the moment, but that isn't stopping the business splashing the cash – specifically on a shiny new property on Oxford Street. The premises, at 161-167 Oxford Street and 36 Poland Street, has been acquired freehold from CIP Property, a nominee of Aviva Investors for £108m. Sports Direct said [...]
City Moves for 12 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 12, 2016 Bfinance Bfinance, the independently owned investment consultancy, has appointed Peter Hobbsas managing director of private markets in the London office. He joins from MSCI where he was managing director for real estate research and key global accounts, responsible for benchmarking and portfolio analysis, risk services and method development. Prior to this, Peter held various senior [...]
Why investors shouldn’t ignore the hype about fintech April 11, 2016 Many investors (business angels, venture capital and private equity funds as well as family offices) are participating in fintech, and recognise value creation truly reflective of a “fourth industrial revolution”. However, others are somewhat sceptical and concerned about froth and hype. Either way, what’s interesting is that even the most sceptical aren’t willing to bet [...]
Commercial rents rocket across capital – with prices in Shoreditch tripling and Clerkenwell, Farringdon and St James’s property rates doubling April 11, 2016 London's commercial rents have surged by an average of 70 per cent over the last five years, according to new research. Figures from EY show that areas including Clerkenwell, Farringdon, and St James’ have seen prices charged to rent out commercial property double. Rents in Shoreditch have almost tripled, from an average of £17 per [...]
Stock Spirits Group board will continue to pursue M&As despite shareholder rebellion from Luis Amaral April 10, 2016 Stock Spirits Group’s board of directors has said the company will not change its strategic direction, despite facing the beginnings of a shareholder rebellion last week. The major shareholder of the London-listed vodka producer, Portuguese retail tycoon Luis Amaral, wrote to investors last Tuesday telling them to oust chief executive Chris Heath at the company’s annual [...]
Moody’s downgrades Shell due to BG acquisition April 9, 2016 Moody's has slashed Royal Dutch Shell's credit rating, citing the impact of its £36bn acquisition of smaller rival BG on its leverage. The two companies merged on February 15, creating the world's second-biggest publicly-traded oil and gas company measured by market cap. But the credit ratings agency warned today that it has left Shell with increased leverage, leading [...]
Sweet tooth for peckish Primark-owner Associated British Foods as it snaps up Africa’s largest producer of sugar April 8, 2016 Primark-owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has finally filled a long-standing hole this morning, completing a £262m purchase of Illovo Sugar Limited, Africa's largest producer of the sweet stuff. The extra calories failed to put much energy behind ABF shares in London, however, with the firm up just 0.41 per cent to 3,401p in the first minutes [...]
Dunelm’s share price jumps after bounce back in sales April 7, 2016 Dunelm shares rallied today after the out-of-town homeware giant posted a bounce back in sales in third quarter following a disappointing start to the year. The retailer grew sales by 5.9 per cent to £229m in the 13 weeks to 2 April, while like-for-like sales – including home delivery – increased by 1.1 per cent. That contrasted with the previous quarter, when Dunelm blamed the [...]