Theatre review: Treasure Island December 12, 2014 Olivier Theatre | ★★★☆☆ The National Theatre employed the services of a “comedy consultant” for its lavish new Treasure Island adaptation. Whatever he did, it didn’t work – the jokes let down an otherwise impressive production that kids will enjoy (if not love) and adults will tolerate. Too often laughs are grasped at clumsily, upsetting the [...]
Which London street is the most expensive to live on? Belgravia beats Kensington and Chelsea December 12, 2014 Grosvenor Crescent, near Buckingham Palace, has been named London's most expensive street to live on, according to new research by Lloyds Bank. Home buyers who want to live in one of the prestigious crescent's white Georgian townhouses will, on average, have to shell out a whopping £16.9m. It's located in high-end Belgravia, one of the wealthiest [...]
UK housing crash, Draghi quitting the ECB or “A-choco-lypse”? Here are Saxo Bank’s bonkers predictions for 2015 December 10, 2014 Could there be a UK housing market meltdown? Could Nigel Farage become deputy prime minister? Or worst of all, will there be an "a-choco-lypse"? These could be some of the most outrageous predictions you'll hear this year – or the best warning you ever had. Saxo Bank has just released its 10 scenarios for 2015 [...]
Prior sets up cycling team December 9, 2014 ENGLAND wicketkeeper Matt Prior has co-founded a new professional cycling team with the expressed aim of competing at UCI Continental level. Prior, who took a break from international duty in the summer to recover from achilles surgery, is the chief executive of One Pro Cycling, which aims to operate a level above UK domestic teams [...]
Sky sells majority stake in Sky Bet for £600m to focus on European TV December 4, 2014 BROADCASTER Sky yesterday sold a controlling stake in its online betting and gaming business Sky Bet to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in a £720m deal. The deal, which comes just weeks after Sky completed the £7bn takeover of its European sister companies Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, will see Sky receive an initial [...]
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 [...]