Lord Myners to lead review into the IPO process? September 16, 2014 After a quiet couple of months, it looks like Royal Mail is at the top of the parliamentary agenda again. Lord Myners has been drafted in to lead yet another review into the handling of the controversial, £3.3bn privatisation of the company, it was reported this morning. Former City minister Myners will lead a panel [...]
Monitise share price dips as mobile banking firm eyes move to FTSE September 15, 2014 Aim-listed Monitise could consider a move to the main London Stock Exchange market as soon as this financial year, the mobile banking and payments firm’s chief executive told City A.M. yesterday. “The fact that we’ve reiterated that we’re seriously considering [a move to a main listing] shows that we’re thinking imminently, hopefully within this financial [...]
British software firm Micro Focus acquires US rival The Attachmate Group September 15, 2014 FTSE 250-listed software company Micro Focus International is to buy privately-owned US rival The Attachmate Group in an all-share deal valuing the combined firms at $2.35bn (£1.45bn). Micro Focus said yesterday that following the reverse takeover, its shareholders would own about 60 per cent of the equity in the new group which would be [...]
Planning liberalisation is the closest thing there is to an economic silver bullet September 15, 2014 WITH low productivity, high inflation and terrible industrial relations, in 1977, Britain was a basket case. So that year, businessman John Hoskyns decided to dedicate substantial effort to analysing the UK’s economic problems. The result was a flow diagram, which sought to trace out the fundamental causes of the malaise. Hoskyns’s work pinned the blame [...]
Dubai Mall owner aiming for £1bn IPO in UAE’s biggest flotation since financial crisis September 14, 2014 The biggest flotation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since the global financial crisis seven years ago is underway as Dubai’s Emir Malls Group (EMG) is hoping to raise nearly $1.6bn (£983m) from the sales of shares. EMG is offering 2bn shares, worth around 15.4 per cent of equity, with the price range set [...]
Photobox boss Stan Laurent: The man driving Moonpig’s growth story September 14, 2014 By the end of April, it became clear to Stan Laurent that London’s doors were effectively closed to new consumer-facing internet companies. There had just been the perfect storm of disastrous market debuts from Just Eat and AO World, along with two profit warnings from Asos that triggered a sell-off in shares of fellow fashion [...]
Marc Jacobs, McQ and Vivienne Westwood: Shop Direct lifts the lid on Very Exclusive launch brands September 12, 2014 My Wardrobe founder Sarah Curran has unveiled the details of her latest venture – a luxury arm within Shop Direct – and some of the brands that have signed up for its launch next February. Very Exclusive will focus on luxury women's clothing, footwear, accessories and beauty when it goes live during London Fashion [...]
Amazon planning to more than double its workforce in London September 11, 2014 Online retail giant Amazon has signed a deal to open a huge office around the corner from Silicon Roundabout, where it will more than double its current total UK corporate workforce to more than 5,000 employees. Amazon’s new home will be Principal Place, a massive development between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations, which [...]
DIY expert nails the top job at Kingfisher September 10, 2014 Veronique Laury set to become only one of five female FTSE 100 chief executives FEW PEOPLE on this side of the Channel will have heard of Veronique Laury, but after renovating three houses of her own, the incoming chief executive of Europe’s largest retailer has knowledge of the DIY sector that goes beyond just the [...]
How to save up for a house deposit September 9, 2014 With property prices surging in recent years – by 19.3 per cent in London in the 12 months to June, according to ONS data – the amount needed for a house deposit has shot up. The latest figures from LSL Property Services show that the average first-time buyer put down just over £30,000 for a [...]