Inside Track: City’s tech industry hopes are wrapped up in Just Eat April 3, 2014 JUST Eat shares got off to a very decent start in unconditional trading yesterday in a deal that has demolished some people’s reservations about the London new issues market for technology stocks. Contrary to what a number of experts said at City A.M.’s roundtable on the new issues market last June, London does seem prepared [...]
Sports Direct shareholders revolt over Ashley’s £70m bonus scheme April 2, 2014 SPORTS Direct shareholders have rejected plans to introduce a bonus scheme that would have awarded founder Mike Ashley a £70m windfall, after revolting over a similar scheme two years ago. The retail giant said yesterday that it has cancelled a general meeting that was due to take place tomorrow after the board realised there was [...]
London Report: Mortgage lending data to shine light on housing boom March 30, 2014 MORTGAGE approval data for February, due out today, are likely to highlight more growth in the heated housing market. The figures will be closely watched after the Bank of England last week warned some borrowers may be overstretching themselves in the current fast-moving market. Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for manufacturing, construction and services published [...]
Pensions freedom is at risk – from the regulators March 27, 2014 AS COMMENTATORS digest the liberal reforms to pensions announced in the Budget last week, questions are starting to arise about just how the proposals will be implemented. To be clear, we welcome the reforms; it is right that people should be empowered to make their own choices about how they access a pension fund which [...]
Interserve replaces auditor March 26, 2014 Outsourcing group Interserve has ditched Deloitte as its auditor and hired Grant Thornton in its place. FTSE 250-listed Interserve decided to end its 15-year relationship with Big Four auditor Deloitte after a competitive tender. The contract is the latest coup for Grant Thornton, which became the auditor of a FTSE 100 firm for the first [...]
The UK’s 50 biggest companies that still have all-male boards March 26, 2014 UK companies are closing in on a government target to see women in 25 per cent of FTSE 100 board positions. That's according to the 2014 Cranfield Female FTSE board report, which shows that just 48 more women are needed on the boards of Britain's top companies for the target to be met. Just two [...]
Prezzo, Wagamama and GBK bring mobile payments to the high street March 21, 2014 RESTAURANT group Prezzo is introducing mobile payments to its 200 UK stores in a move that allows customers to pay directly from their smartphones without bringing a debit or credit card with them. The new payment technology, rolled out in partnership with PayPal, lets customer split a bill between friends and pay for their meal at [...]
Sports Direct’s chairman in line for £67m bonus March 11, 2014 SPORTS Direct announced plans yesterday to introduce a bonus scheme that could award Mike Ashley a windfall of £67m, nearly two years after shareholders rejected previous plans to reward the retailer’s founder. The sporting goods retailer has called for a shareholder meeting on 4 April to vote on whether to award Ashley 8m shares, which [...]
Bottom Line: Ashley deserves every penny of his reward March 11, 2014 ATOP HIS impressive beer gut, Mike Ashley’s face has the healthy glow of a man who enjoys a carrot. Yesterday, Sports Direct dangled a huge one in front of its chairman in the form of a £67m share bonus – subject, of course, to the company’s profitability over the next two years. On past performance, [...]
ONS warns zero hours contracts figures mislead March 10, 2014 STATISTICS showing a dramatic increase in zero-hours contracts in the UK were claimed to be misleading by the government office that published them. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday urged caution on reading its report that 583,000 UK workers were on zero-hour contracts – more than double the original 250,000 estimate from last year [...]