Solid Pace profits overshadowed by finance chief’s resignation July 28, 2014 FTSE 250-listed set-top box maker Pace Group said it expected full- year profit to exceed previous guidance, driven by new product launches and contract wins. Despite the strong interim results yesterday, which initially prompted minor gains, shares in the British firm slipped 3.6 per cent to 355p after Pace revealed that its well-regarded finance director, [...]
Tesco veteran Andrew Higginson to chair Morrisons after 15 years at supermarket July 28, 2014 Tesco’s former finance boss Andrew Higginson is expected to be appointed as the chairman of rival supermarket chain Morrisons. Current chairman Sir Ian Gibson has been in the position since September 2007, and last month announced his intention to stand down. Retail veteran Higginson spent 15 years on the board at Tesco, with 11 as [...]
London Report: Fall in financials brings London’s market down July 28, 2014 THE FTSE 100 yesterday ended down after weak US housing data discouraged investors in America and Europe during a data-light European day. The blue chip index lost 0.1 per cent to close at 6,788.07. Earlier in the day it had traded as high as 6,809.61, but moved lower together with other markets after pending home [...]
BSkyB invests in virtual reality video startup Jaunt July 28, 2014 BSkyB is investing nearly half a million dollars in Jaunt, an immersive video startup which is developing ways to bring the cinema experience to virtual reality devices. The $400,000 funding is the second round of investment in the California-based company for Sky, previously investing $350,000 in the early stage startup at the end of last [...]
Ryanair share price rises after full-year profit expectations revised July 28, 2014 There is the cliche of blue skies ahead for Ryanair, after the budget airline raised the upper limit of its profit expectations to €650m from €620m. Shares climbed on the news and were up 4.6 per cent at pixel time. The revision comes, Ryanair said, because of expectations that full-year traffic will rise by 5 [...]
Osborne drafts Lambert for market probe July 27, 2014 THE FORMER boss of the CBI and the current chief executive of Allianz Global Investors are set to be appointed to review a government-led inquiry into financial markets. Sir Richard Lambert, who ran Britain’s biggest employers’ group until 2011, will be an independent member of the Fair and Effective Markets Review, according to Sky News, [...]
Malaysia Airlines considers name change after flight MH17 and MH370 plane disasters July 27, 2014 Beleaguered carrier Malaysia Airlines could change its name as part of its reinvention after suffering two plane disasters within months of each other. Hugh Dunleavy, the airline’s commercial director, writing in the Sunday Telegraph said: "Our majority shareholder, the Malaysian government, has already started a process of assessing the future shape of our business and [...]
Sky Europe: What will BSkyB’s new TV empire look like? July 25, 2014 Sky Europe, as BSkyB has now been dubbed after buying up its Italian and German counterparts for between £5bn and £7bn, will span six countries and reach 20 million customers. With the purchase, total revenue across the new company will exceed the £10bn mark, largely driven by UK operations, and “synergies” as they say (read [...]
BSkyB share price slides on £5.3bn deal for Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia July 25, 2014 BSkyB's share price opened 3 per cent lower this morning after announcing a long-awaited £5.3bn deal to acquire European pay TV operators Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, creating one of the biggest pay TV operators in Europe. BSkyB has offered £2.9bn in cash for 21st Century Fox’s 57.4 per [...]
EasyJet share price slides as profit projections fail to meet expectations July 24, 2014 EasyJet's share price has dropped this morning after the budget airline forecast lower than expected pre-tax profits for its financial year. The airline, which carried 17.9m passengers in the three months to 30 June, said in an interim management statement that it expected pre-tax profits for the year to September to be £570m, lower than [...]