London Report: Rio Tinto holds up FTSE despite housing drop November 28, 2013 HeAVYWEIGHT miner Rio Tinto helped keep the FTSE 100 in positive territory yesterday, offsetting weakness in housebuilders after the Bank of England removed a mortgage support scheme. Rio Tinto enjoyed hefty gains in an otherwise subdued session – adding six points on its own to the FTSE 100 – as investors responded bullishly to the [...]
Italian luxury group Moncler eyes £2bn float November 27, 2013 MONCLER, an Italian maker of luxury fur lined puffer jackets, yesterday announced plans to float on the Milan stock exchange, hoping to replicate the success of Brunello Cucinelli, the luxury retail group that went public in early 2012. Shares in Brunello Cucinelli are up more than 200 per cent since the group’s flotation. Moncler considered [...]
Letters to the Editor – 28/11 – Scots referendum, Bank ringfence, Best of Twitter November 27, 2013 Scots referendum [Re: Financial and economic flaws in the SNP’s plan make the case for Union, yesterday] I agree with Alistair Darling. Currency union requires political union, as demonstrated by the euro experience. It would be foolish to repeat the same mistake here. Meanwhile, Scotland having its own currency would increase the cost of selling [...]
City Moves for 27 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 26, 2013 Aecom Patrick Flaherty has been appointed managing director for the UK and Ireland at the technical and management support services firm. He joins from Fluor, where he was managing director of its UK operations and led its infrastructure business. Axa Investment Managers The asset management division of Axa has announced the appointment of John Porter [...]
Debt firms snap up UK student loans for £160m November 25, 2013 DEBT MANAGEMENT group Erudio was yesterday revealed as the buyer of £890m worth of student loans that have been sold off by the government. Erudio Student Loans, a consortium made up of Arrow Global and CarVal Investors, paid £160m for the portfolio. The deal will see it take control of the government’s remaining 17 per cent [...]
Hammerson and Westfield plans for Whitgift Centre win approval November 25, 2013 PLANS for the £1bn redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre in Croydon were given the go-ahead by the council’s planning committee last night. Developers Westfield and Hammerson have been granted outline planning consent to convert the tired 1960s shopping centre into a 1.5m square feet retail and leisure destination with 600 new homes. The scheme, which [...]
MoPowered to raise £4m at IPO November 25, 2013 MoPowered, which provides website services for leading retailers such as Next, announced its intention to float on London’s Alternative Investment Market yesterday, hoping to raise £4m. “With the funds raised during the initial public offering, we will aim to increase our market presence still further as retailers increasingly see the benefit of our SaaS platform,” [...]
City Moves for 26 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 25, 2013 FRP Advisory The specialist restructuring and recovery firm has appointed Michael Healy as a partner. He joins from Leonard Curtis, the rescue and recovery firm. Healy has 22 years’ experience in business advisory restructuring, and has held roles at Barclays, Levy Gee, and RSM Robson Rhodes. Capco The business and technology consultancy has appointed Jonathan [...]
Amazon contemplates Tube ticket offices as collection points November 22, 2013 Transport for London is said to be in talks with online retail giant Amazon to convert Tube ticket offices into "drop off" points for parcels. An Amazon Locker is already being trialled at Hammersmith station. The self-service collection points are popping up at pick-up locations across the UK, and are expected to be piloted in other Tube stations [...]
Inside Track: The Royal Mail outcome has not disappointed at all November 21, 2013 AS JOHN Major’s supposedly favourite think tank, the Bow Group, yesterday urged an independent investigation into the sale of Royal Mail Group, it seems that a growing number of people believe the bankers on the deal performed a bad job and should all be sent to the Tower of London or some such place to [...]