Car auctioneer owner aims for listing hat-trick June 23, 2014 THE OWNER of British Car Auctions (BCA) is plotting another foray onto the London stock market, buoyed by the success of two similar share sales earlier this year. New York-based outfit Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which bought BCA in February 2010, is on the verge of appointing half a dozen investment banks to bring the [...]
City Moves for 23 June 2014 | Who’s switching jobs June 23, 2014 Canaccord Genuity The wealth management firm and investment bank has appointed Guy Marks as a managing director in business services in its London-based investment banking team. He previously worked at JP Morgan Cazenove, where he was most recently in its UK corporate finance team. TSB Desmond McDaid has been appointed head of savings at the [...]
The perfect fit: Meet Girl Meets Dress co-founder Xavier de Lecaros Aquise June 23, 2014 Harriet Green talks true grit with Girl Meets Dress co-founder Xavier de Lecaros Aquise. Advocates of the sharing economy, otherwise known as collaborative consumption, claim that it is finally reaching a mainstream audience. Earlier this month, for example, the government announced reforms to outdated legislation, ending long-running questions over the legal status of ultra short-term [...]
Inside Track: Banks in clover as new issues continue to defy critics June 19, 2014 Far from being on its uppers as some of the moodier fund managers have predicted, London’s new issues market continues to show resilience as we come up to the half-way point in the year. Mid-June is when the City’s big investment bank houses conduct their mid-year reviews and on the whole they make for positive [...]
Darty to focus on core markets as it says profits and sales up June 19, 2014 Electrical goods retailer Darty yesterday announced a six per cent rise in pre-tax profits to €60m (£48m) for the last financial year, with like-for-like sales revenue up to €3.58bn, an increase of 1.7 per cent. Darty, listed in London but with most of its sales in France, is the third largest electrical goods retailer in [...]
Letters to the Editor – 20/06 – The estuary option, Flatter the better, Best of Twitter June 19, 2014 The estuary option This week, Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the Airports Commission, was questioned by the London Assembly. Some of his answers were worrying. He seemed to refuse to acknowledge the benefits a new four-runway hub airport would bring to Britain. When hubs are being built all over the world, with upwards of four [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 19 June 2014 June 18, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES US share dividends hit record US share buybacks and dividend payments climbed to a record level in the first quarter of 2014, as companies chose to boost shareholder returns in the absence of robust revenue growth. Members of the S&P 500 index – led by Apple, IBM, ExxonMobil and FedEx – spent $241bn [...]
Zoopla’s debut safe as houses after stock rises June 18, 2014 PROPERTY portal Zoopla yesterday attracted a host of blue-chip investors to its £900m London stock market debut, helping net its founder £30m. The company, which priced shares at 220p, saw 38.3 per cent sold to new investors after existing shareholders such as Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) – its biggest owner – and founder [...]
SSP employees take a bite out of firm’s £2bn stock market debut June 17, 2014 THE OWNER of train station food retailers Millie’s Cookies and Upper Crust is set to give its 30,000 employees a chance to buy a stake in the business. SSP, which unveiled plans to raise £500m from City investors by listing shares on the stock market, is considering plans to include an employee share ownership scheme [...]
M&M Direct sold for £140m after listing snubbed June 16, 2014 BUDGET online sports retailer M&M Direct is set to be sold for up to £140m – reversing plans for a stock market listing in London. The company, founded as a catalogue retailer in 1997, has clinched a deal to be acquired by Danish clothing outfit Bestseller. The firm’s current backer, private equity firm TA Associates, [...]