Four Seasons Health Care ticks on with a £40m injection from H/2 Capital Partners March 12, 2019 One of the UK’s largest care home operators has won an extra £40m funding to help it tick over as the group prepares for a sale. US hedge fund H/2 Capital Partners, a major shareholder in the group, will increase its financing for Four Seasons Health Care from £70m to £110m and extend it until 3 [...]
Interserve’s top shareholder warns administrator against selling off to lenders March 12, 2019 Interserve’s largest shareholder has warned the outsourcer’s would-be administrator against arranging a pre-pack insolvency deal that would hand total control to the firm’s lenders, in the event the firm goes bust on Friday. Coltrane Asset Management, a US hedge fund that holds a 27.7 per cent stake in the outsourcer, has written to EY, which [...]
Horse Racing Betting Tips: Klassical Dream could be made for the Supreme but I’m loving Angels instead March 11, 2019 FINALLY the waiting is over. After what has been a peculiar jumps season weather-wise, the tapes are set to go up for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at 1.30pm this afternoon. For the second year running, the Festival is going to start on soft ground following heavy rain in Gloucestershire over the past week [...]
The UK’s competition policy must be fit for a world of tech giants and hidden cartels March 11, 2019 Competition is the oxygen of the capitalist system. From Adam Smith on, there have been warnings of the threats to economic health if competition is restricted by would-be monopolists or cartels. In the UK, the system is policed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It rarely hits the headlines except for occasional controversial cases like [...]
Leading challenger banks in advanced talks about £1.6bn merger March 9, 2019 OneSavings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services Group are in advanced talks about a merger that would create a lender worth more than £1.6bn Discussions have been ongoing for a number of months between two of Britain's biggest challenger banks and an announcement could confirm a deal within the next fortnight, according to Sky News. Read [...]
LK Bennett collapses into administration March 7, 2019 Upmarket women’s footwear retailer LK Bennett has collapsed into administration, in the latest sign of industry trouble on the high street. Some 500 jobs across 39 stores are now at risk at the high end firm, which has appointed accountancy firm EY as administrators. In a statement this afternoon, EY said: "A sale process for the [...]
Advertising industry group hits back in row over junk food ad bans March 7, 2019 Restrictions on junk food adverts have a huge economic impact and fail to address the problem of childhood obesity, the advertising industry body has said. In a report published today the Advertising Association (AA) states children’s exposure to adverts for products with high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) contents has declined in recent years, yet [...]
Nicky Morgan urges Treasury to provide no-deal tariff plans ahead of May’s Brexit vote March 6, 2019 Former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has urged the Treasury to clarify its position on tariff policy in the event of a no-deal Brexit following reports that up to 90 per cent could be slashed. Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, wrote to Philip Hammond today to demand he state whether the lowering of tariffs was current [...]
Metro Exodus review: Back in the USSR, this long-running series hits an incredible high March 6, 2019 Nobody glorifies misery quite like the Russians. Across centuries of literature, poetry and music, some of humanity’s most brilliant minds have elevated the struggles of ordinary Russian men and women to incredible symphonies of suffering. Times of unparalleled political and social upheaval – the Bolshevik revolution, the rise of Leninism, the Stalinist purges, the threat [...]
Mars, Mondelez and Kellogg’s hit with advert bans over inappropriate targeting March 6, 2019 Food brands Mars, Mondelez and Kellogg’s have all been handed down advert bans after the watchdog ruled they had inappropriately targeted children and exaggerated health claims. Mars was censured over an advert for its Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum, which featured on Channel 4’s on-demand service. Read more: Sky Incredibles advert banned over superfast Wi-Fi claims [...]