The great Facebook crash of 2014: The internet reacts June 19, 2014 It may have lasted for around half an hour, but the 'Great Facebook Outage of 2014' certainly got the internet panicking. The social network site was down this morning, with users reporting that they were unable to access the Facebook website and mobile apps worldwide. While the opportunity to go outside and talk to other [...]
Suitors line up for Bonhams as outfit goes under the hammer June 5, 2014 A HANDFUL of private equity suitors have submitted first round bids for 220-year-old British auction house Bonhams, after the firm opted for a sale over a stock market float. Up to six firms are understood to have submitted bids for the company, including offers from the UK arm Mitt Romney-founded Bain Capital, as well as [...]
Pret a manger sales hit £500m for first time May 8, 2014 PRET A Manger’s sales topped £500m for the first time last year after the sandwich chain grew its footprint in Hong Kong, France and the US as well as Britain. The private-equity owned group said revenues rose 15 per cent to £510m in the year to 2 January while earnings were up nine per cent [...]
Contactless payments rising as TfL and retailers drive adoption March 12, 2014 CONTACTLESS payments on the high street jumped nearly 300 per cent last year, according to figures from Visa yesterday. Visa Europe’s director of contactless Mark Austin said that the 94.3m payments had been spurred by Transport for London’s use of contactless on buses last year and the increasing numbers of retailers installing terminals. Adoption from [...]
Business leaders speak out in support of immigration December 9, 2013 Two leading figures in British business have championed the benefits of immigration to the UK economy. Former M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose speaking on the Murnaghan show on Sunday said: I'm a free market economist, we operate in a free market. If these people want to come here, and work the hours they are prepared [...]
City diners help Itsu and Leon to tasty results October 3, 2013 LONDON’S healthy lunch spots are serving up growing sales and plans to expand beyond the capital. Itsu said yesterday a bigger menu and its first opening outside London have set it up for expansion across the country. The sushi specialist, launched by Pret a Manger founder Julian Metcalfe, posted a 22 per cent rise in [...]
Bridgepoint munches down on Polish biscuit maker Dr Gerard October 2, 2013 PRET A Manger owner Bridgepoint yesterday snapped up a Polish biscuit maker in a bid to capitalise on Poland’s increasingly sweet tooth. Dr Gerard, which started life making gingerbread in the Polish town of Ozarow 20 years ago, will come under the financial control of Bridgepoint after the UK-based private equity group agreed to buy [...]
The man who went from hotdogs to thinkpods September 22, 2013 Regus founder Mark Dixon tells Michael Bow why serviced offices are at the cutting edge of technology SITTING behind a boardroom table in an office on Berkeley Square in Mayfair, Mark Dixon, founder and chief executive of serviced office company Regus, is sipping from a Pret A Manger paper cup. With his round tortoiseshell spectacles [...]
A future of statist confusion underlies Clegg’s pitch for permanent coalition September 18, 2013 NICK Clegg appears to have settled on a new strategy for the Lib Dems. Put unkindly, his aim seems to be to bore the electorate into submission. In fact, in many ways, his speech to the party faithful in Glasgow yesterday was a throwback to the rhetoric of the SDP-Liberal Alliance of the 1980s. He’s [...]
Bridgepoint in €585m deal September 3, 2013 PRET a Manger owner Bridgepoint yesterday beat off stiff competition to buy AHT Cooling, which supplies fridges and freezes to supermarkets including Lidl and Aldi. The private equity firm will pay €585m to Quadriga Capital and Partners group to takeover the Austrian-based company. City A.M. understands the deal is backed by about €280m of senior [...]