Betfair hires banks to plan autumn float January 24, 2010 ONLINE gambling exchange Betfair is understood to have appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise on a £1.5bn flotation. The company, which is backed by Japanese lender Softbank, is thought to be examining an autumn listing which would potentially net co-founders Ed Wray and Andrew Black hundreds of millions of pounds. The news will [...]
Shares fall as Obama wages war on Wall Street January 22, 2010 PRESIDENT Barack Obama launched his biggest attack yet on the banking sector, revealing plans for the toughest overhaul of Wall Street since the Great Depression. “If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” Obama said, as he told retail banks they would no longer be able to take risky bets [...]
William Hill buoyed by earnings upgrade thanks to revenue surge January 20, 2010 High Street bookmaker William Hill looked attractive to punters yesterday, as shares closed up more than three per cent following a bullish trading statement. Earnings for the year are expected to be at the top end of predictions, with gross earnings of around £250m due to a four per cent increase in revenue. The company [...]
Commercial property sector sees growing signs of improvement January 20, 2010 THE hard-hit commercial property sector is finally showing signs of life, according to a new survey from the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published today. In London, the amount of office space available to tenants in London declined for the first time in two years and rents are no longer expected to fall in [...]
Flat sales dog SAB Miller as volumes wane January 19, 2010 Brewing giant SABMiller yesterday reported flat underlying beer volumes for the third quarter as subdued consumer spending continued to take the fizz out of its sales. Shares in the London-listed company ended the day more than two per cent down on the news that volumes for the three months to the end of December were [...]
Weak pound fuels London sales boost January 18, 2010 SHOP sales in the capital soared over Christmas as tourists and Londoners embarked on spending sprees. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported that in London sales jumped 12 per cent in December – the best performance since it started publishing the figures in 2002. Visitors from Europe, China and the Middle East hit the shops, [...]
Travelport in pole position in float queue January 17, 2010 TRAVELPORT looks set to become the most expensive company to float on the stock exchange in two years. It will be amongst the first in a slew of companies seeking an IPO in the coming months. The airline and hotel reservations firm, which operates in 160 countries, has plans for flotation in London and hopes [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 13, 2010 Smith & Williamson The professional services group has appointed Vivienne Oliver as an associate director in its restructuring and recovery services team. An 18-year veteran of Ernst & Young, where she worked on formal appointments, divestments, restructurings and wind-ups of investment trusts and funds, Oliver also formerly worked as a director at Baker Tilly. She [...]
UK Plc has much to learn from Tesco January 12, 2010 NAPOLEON Bonaparte was right: Britain is a nation of shopkeepers. Tesco’s great figures yesterday confirm that the retailer remains one of the UK’s few truly world-class corporate giants. Group sales increased by 7.5 per cent at constant exchange rates and like-for-like UK sales (ex-fuel and adjusted for Vat) were up by 4.9 per cent in [...]
Debenhams caught in icy blast from shareholders January 12, 2010 THE cold snap wasn’t quite over for high street stalwart Debenhams at its annual general meeting yesterday as the board came under fire from beleaguered shareholders keen to know when their pockets would be padded with dividends once again. At the company’s London-based meeting, chairman John Lovering worked hard to reassure investors that the company [...]