At the close: FTSE falls as miners give up gains June 9, 2016 The FTSE 100 lost ground today as miners slumped. A fall in the oil price, as well as disappointing numbers out of China, meant the blue-chip index snapped its four-day winning streak. The FTSE finished at 6,231.89, down by 1.1 per cent. The FTSE 100 had risen in its previous four sessions. US stocks also dragged as investors worried [...]
Euro 2016: How Charlton’s Johann Gudmundsson and QPR’s Conor Washington will handle underdog status for Iceland and Northern Ireland June 9, 2016 English football fans will not have to look too hard to find a familiar face at the European Championships, with a quarter of players present plying their trade on these shores. The opulent and cosmopolitan Premier League is the best-represented competition in the world at Euro 2016 and its stars will be at home in [...]
Vodafone NZ and Sky Network in telecoms and TV tie-up to compete with the likes of Netflix June 9, 2016 Global telecoms group Vodafone is merging its New Zealand unit with the country's largest provider of pay TV, Sky Network Television. The deal, worth £1.7bn, is in response to growing competition in the country from the likes of Netflix and other internet streaming services and will create one of the biggest companies on the New Zealand Stock [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open June 9, 2016 South Korea has unexpectedly cut its interest rates, while New Zealand's central bank remains on hold. In China consumer prices rose less than expected, muting economist hopes that the economy is stabilising earlier in the week. Here's what you need to know before the US markets open at 2:30pm London time. US futures are pointing downwards. The S&P is [...]
Food billionaire Ranjit Boparan set to buy Tesco’s Giraffe restaurants June 8, 2016 Ranjit Boparan, owner of Harry Ramsden's restaurants, is set to buy Giraffe from Tesco. Sky News reports the food tycoon's private investment vehicle Boparan Ventures, which also owns London-based chain Fishworks, is snapping up the restaurant chain for a "modest sum". Boparan, whose known to be worth £1.35bn, is the founder of Britain's biggest chicken supplier 2 Sisters Food Group. Read [...]
Every little helps: Tesco to sell Giraffe chain and Turkish interests in bid to offload underperforming assets June 7, 2016 Britain's biggest supermarket chain Tesco is set to sell its Kipa chain in Turkey and Giraffe restaurants in the UK. The sale of Kipa, that Tesco acquired in 2013, is likely to raise "a couple of hundred million pounds", an analyst told Sky News, while an unnamed family-owned investment group is interested in snapping up Giraffe. Tesco bought Giraffe [...]
Verizon planning second round bid for Yahoo’s internet business, sending the share price lower as figures fall short of expectations June 7, 2016 US telecoms giant Verizon is reportedly readying a second-round bid for Yahoo's core internet business. The bid is expected to come in ahead of the Monday deadline and will value the business at around $3bn (£2bn), some $2bn under expectations. The lower-than-expected bid sent Yahoo's share price down by around 0.5 per cent in New York. Previously bids [...]
How UK media companies are surviving digital disruption June 7, 2016 The UK’s media and entertainment sector is in “rude health”, with revenues up 21 per cent since 2011, despite digital disruption. Deloitte’s Media Metrics 2016 report looked at the 100 largest UK companies in the area, finding a total turnover of £87bn in the firms’ latest accounts. Deloitte predicts this number, based on 2014 or [...]
Ignore Remain’s Brexit deceptions: EU backers are the real protectionists June 7, 2016 Following Michael Gove’s impressive performance in the Sky “debate” last week, the Stronger In campaign was always going to clutch at straws to find some supposed slip-up to exploit. This time it was Gove’s admission that “I cannot say that everybody in their current job will keep their job” following a Brexit. This, the Remain [...]
How Iglu.com founder Richard Downs is taking on the world in the growing market for cruise holidays June 7, 2016 The internet has turned the travel industry on its head, giving ordinary people unprecedented opportunities to create bespoke holidays that were once the preserve of the rich. But it’s not just online travel warehouses like Airbnb and Expedia that have pushed the traditional agent off our high streets. The internet has enabled specialist providers to thrive [...]