This time last year Foxtons was an investor favourite – what happened? December 4, 2014 It was just over a year ago that London estate agent Foxtons became the darling of the London Stock Exchange with a stonkingly successful IPO. Having floated at 230p, valuing it at £649m, shares in the company rose sharply to a peak of 285.5p in its first day of trading. By the end of February, [...]
Betfair pays £200m to shareholders as profits rise 112 per cent December 4, 2014 It been a bumper half year for Betfair. The figures for the six months to 31 October 2014 are the stuff of a financial officer’s dreams: profit before tax up 112 per cent to £67.3m, revenue up 26 per cent to £237.6m, EBITDA up 51 per cent at £73.9m, and a £200m pay-out to shareholders. [...]
Sky offloads online betting business Sky Bet for £800m to private equity firm CVC Capital December 4, 2014 Sky has sold off the majority of its online betting business Sky Bet to private equity firm CVC Capital for £800m to concentrate on its new Europe-wide TV business. The deal will net Sky £600m in cash and a further deferred £120m, giving CVC Capital an 80 per cent stake in the business. Sky has [...]
Walsh is on the grid for F1 December 3, 2014 The former chief executive of drinks giant Diageo is being lined up to be chairman of the Formula One board. If Paul Walsh is appointed, it could signal the beginning of the end of Bernie Ecclestone’s control of the motorsport. Sky News reported that a board meeting is scheduled for next week to discuss replacing [...]
Super stars: Award-winning landscape photographer Murray Fredericks exhibits recent works December 3, 2014 William Wordsworth wrote of a “sense sublime, something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean, and the living air, and the blue sky.” A “sense sublime” is a good way of describing the feelings induced by the work of Australian photographer Murray Fredericks, whose stunning landscapes [...]
TalkTalk boss Dido Harding doesn’t fear quad play UK December 2, 2014 As deal fever sweeps the sector, the head of Britain’s budget broadband business isn’t fazed. Dido Harding feels quite relaxed despite the past two weeks’ explosive telecoms deal talk that foreshadows what could be the largest period of consolidation the sector has ever seen. If anything, the chief executive of Britain’s budget broadband provider – [...]
Sky faces its big match in fight with BT for Premier League TV football December 2, 2014 Sometime early next year – and no one knows precisely when such is the secrecy surrounding the process – the Premier League will launch an auction to decide who will broadcast live matches for three seasons from 2016-17. And analysts are divided over whether Sky, which has held most of the broadcast rights since the [...]
Britons spend less on leisure as rents climb December 2, 2014 BRITISH households are spending less on eating out, hotels, alcohol and smoking, according to the annual official survey of family budgets released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The survey also reveals how rent, gas and electricity are taking up a larger proportion of spending. Total average spending by families in 2013 was [...]
Sky recruits Lazard bank advisers to explore mobile push as BT confirms takeover talks with O2 and EE December 1, 2014 Sky has appointed advisers, including investment bank Lazard, to examine its UK mobile options, City A.M. understands. The move, first reported by the Financial Times, comes as the telecoms sector has lit up with deal talk over the past week since BT confirmed its takeover talks with O2 and EE to enter the mobile [...]
Monk: We’ll sell Bony but only for sky-high fee December 1, 2014 SWANSEA manager Garry Monk has warned Wilfried Bony’s suitors that it would take an “astronomical” offer for them to consider selling the Ivory Coast striker. Bony, 25, has six goals in his last eight games for the Welsh outfit, and 31 in 63 in total since his £12m transfer from Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem in [...]