Eat’s owners Horizon Capital mull sale amid strain on high street food outlets February 13, 2019 The owners of sandwich chain Eat are planning to sell the business as it battles with growing competition in the crowded high street food market. Private equity firm Horizon Capital, which owns a major stake in the company, has appointed corporate advisory firm Spayne Lindsay to oversee a potential sale. Read more: EU competition watchdog [...]
Swiss investment bank Julius Baer targets £77m of cuts as profit growth slows February 4, 2019 Swiss bank Julius Baer launched a SFr 100m (£76.6m) cost-cutting programme today as profit growth slowed last year. The figures Switzerland’s third largest bank saw net profit for the full year 2018 grow four per cent to SFr 735m, compared to a 14 per cent growth rate in 2017, missing a Reuters poll of analyst [...]
City Moves for 22 January – who’s switching jobs at Perkbox, BNP Paribas and GPP? January 22, 2019 Who’s changing roles today? Perkbox Perkbox, Europe’s fastest-growing employee experience platform, is today announcing the appointment of Jacques Stern, previously global chief executive of Edenred (2010-15), as a non-exec director on the Perkbox board. Jacques ran the Edenred business operating in 40 countries with 6,000+ employees and over £1B in annual revenue between 2010-2015. Since then [...]
WPP mergers fall amid restructuring plan despite increase in deals across sector January 16, 2019 Advertising giant WPP saw its M&A activity halve last year, despite a rise in the total number of deals among marketing communication firms. WPP completed 15 deals in 2018, down from 30 the year before, according to research by Results International. Read more: Brexit, ad fraud and #MeToo – what does the future year hold for [...]
Stock predictions 2019: Which stocks and shares will do well this year? January 2, 2019 After a tumultuous year in the markets with Brexit uncertainty, the threat of trade war and rapidly changing consumer habits, the FTSE 100 suffered its worst year since the financial crisis in 2018, ending it 12.5 per cent down. While there is no sign that 2019 will be any less eventful, with the date Britain [...]
Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital ready to compete ‘at the highest levels’ after confirming Mightyhive takeover December 24, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell’s new company S4 Capital has completed a merger with US advertising group Mightyhive and is now “in a position to compete at the highest levels.” The company announced the closing of the merger today and welcomed three new board members, Mightyhive principals Pete Kim and Chris Martin and Stanhope chief executive Daniel [...]
Sir Martin Sorrell fights hard to remain king of adland December 6, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell channelled his inner Frank Sinatra recently and proclaimed that the success of his new venture S4 Capital would be “the best form of revenge” against WPP. “I want to build the best,” the businessman said of his new advertising outfit, which he previously called a “peanut” in comparison to the global scale [...]
Sorrell strikes again with deal for US digital advertisers December 4, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell will make his second acquisition since leaving advertising giant WPP as he takes over Mighty Hive, a day after his new outfit announced it was in advanced talks with the company. S4 Capital, which was set up by Sorrell after he left the world's biggest advertising firm earlier this year, said it will [...]
Sorrell’s S4 Capital says talks to buy ad firm Mightyhive are now ‘advanced’ December 3, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell’s new company S4 Capital has confirmed it is now in advanced talks to buy Mightyhive, a programmatic advertising group based in San Francisco. S4 plans to integrate the firm as part of its drive to form a new business combining media and technology. It already confirmed talks were taking place last month, [...]
Business booms at S4 Capital as it tees up its second takeover November 14, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell’s new outfit, S4 Capital, posted strong sales growth in the third quarter, the company said today. The firm, which was set up after Sorrell left advertising giant WPP, delivered revenues of over €29m (£26.2m) in the quarter, a rise of almost 45 per cent. Gross profit, meanwhile, shot up 32 per cent [...]