Bank of the year September 9, 2013 2013 may be remembered as the year the banking sector shook off the shadow of the financial crisis and really came back into its own. Profitability is up, lenders are at last overcoming tough new regulatory hurdles and a stable future could be just around the corner. Here is our pick of the top five [...]
Kitchen King lines up advisers for flotation September 8, 2013 THE OWNER of household appliances website AO.com – previously known as Appliances Online – is understood to have hired banks to work on a £300m flotation on the London Stock Exchange. John Roberts, the founder of DRL Limited, which owns AO.com, has reportedly hired Jefferies and JP Morgan to prepare the company for a listing. [...]
The Nominations: A very warm welcome to the shortlists for the City A.M. awards 2013 September 8, 2013 TODAY we kick off the countdown to this year’s City A.M. Awards with the first of the shortlists for an event that has rapidly established itself as a highpoint in the annual calendar. Our awards, now in their fourth year, celebrate all of the City’s main sectors and the people that make sure London remains [...]
London Report: UK retailers set to reveal if tills ringing again September 8, 2013 RETAILERS are set to reveal this week how big an impact the UK recovery is making as consumers return the shops. Reports from Dunelm, Home Retail, Morrisons, Next, Ocado and Sports Direct will show how confident buyers are in the improving economy. Ocado, which will update the market on Thursday, was rated a “buy” by [...]
The startup spicing up Britain’s wealth management industry September 8, 2013 Annabel Palmer meets Nick Hungerford, who switched the Valley for Vauxhall to found the online investment management firm Nutmeg THE British public has long been accustomed to depositing their earnings in a bank account, or investing through an established stockbroker. But Nick Hungerford wants to disrupt the centuries-old wealth management industry, in precisely the same [...]
Innovation Diary: British entrepreneurs aren’t lazy – but life could be getting easier for part-time small businesses September 8, 2013 NEW RESEARCH from Hiscox, the insurer, has turned some heads. Its fifth annual study into the entrepreneurial DNA has found that UK small business owners work an average of only 37.6 hours a week – down from 38.5 in 2012. Based on a relatively small sample of 3,000 business owners across six countries, the UK [...]
A new breed of super-entrepreneurs could leave HS2 looking antiquated September 8, 2013 FOR A mode of transport that first arrived in the nineteenth century, railways have been remarkably resilient. All three major political parties currently support the creation of a new high speed rail network, High Speed 2 (HS2), a £43bn plan to connect London Euston, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, and the East Midlands in two phases. [...]
Phones 4u sells off UK’s biggest mobile phone insurer for $160m September 5, 2013 HIGH STREET retailer Phones 4u yesterday dialled up a £100m deal to sell the UK’s biggest mobile insurer to a Wall Street-listed insurance giant. The phone shop’s parent company, Phones 4u Finance, will sell Crewe-based Lifestyle Services Group (LSG) to Assurant for $160m (£107m) after being approached by Assurant to buy the business earlier this [...]
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 [...]