CITY VIEWS: WOULD YOU INVEST IN OCADO? July 5, 2010 JOHN BUTTERWORTH | INSURANCE CONSULTANT “I don’t think there is a problem with the firm floating. The long-term Waitrose deal is a definite plus point. It’s something different for investors: rewards come from taking a punt.” EMMA ATKINS | KENNEDY LAW “Online shopping is so convenient and the timing could be right for them. I [...]
Ocado issues IPO prospectus July 4, 2010 OCADO will this morning unveil the prospectus for its ambitious initial public offering, which it hopes will value the firm at more than £1bn. The online grocery delivery firm will begin a two week roadshow tomorrow as it seeks to convince investors it is worth the monster sum despite never turning a profit. Ocado, which [...]
Ocado to float June 24, 2010 ECHOES of the dotcom bubble returned to the City yesterday, as an online grocery delivery firm that has not turned a profit in 10 years confirmed it will float with an estimated value of £1bn. Ocado said it will seek to raise £200m when it floats this year and expects existing shareholders to cash in [...]
Waitrose to acquire five stores in Channel Islands June 23, 2010 WAITROSE is buying five supermarkets in the Channel Islands. Local chain Sandpiper CI has sold the stores to the UK supermarket giant. The deal is subject to the approval of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority. It is not expected to complete before the end of October. It will include the three Checkers supermarkets in Jersey [...]
Ocado to report a healthy sales drive June 20, 2010 THE online grocer, Ocado, aims to make its stock market debut by the middle of next month and is expected to make a formal announcement next week. The company has achieved soaring sales but has yet to make a pretax profit. Ocado hopes to achieve a valuation of £1bn and has appointed JPMorgan Cazenove, UBS [...]
Ocado June 20, 2010 THE former Goldman bankers behind Ocado certainly have chutzpah. Trying to reach a £1bn valuation in a flotation is a tall order for pretty much any firm in these times; to do so without having turned a single penny of profit is nothing short of brazen. Ocado’s product is top-drawer in many respects, there’s no [...]
SANDWICH TALKS GO STALE June 20, 2010 DEAL discussions between the husband-and-wife owners of Eat, Niall and Faith MacArthur, and Waitrose have ended after the two sides were unable to agree a price for the sale of the fast food business. Eat, which is valued at between £100m and £150m, will now concentrate on expanding beyond its 100 outlets.
Summer quaffing June 16, 2010 AH, summer. Despite a frosty few days, the sun is shining and it’s the season for lovely uplifting wines. We’ve got two of our favourite City wine experts to tell us their top summer wine picks. Neleen Strauss is the co-owner and sommelier at Thames-side restaurant High Timber (the cellar has 40,000 bottles in it) [...]
Soda queen takes on Goliath June 10, 2010 LAUNCHING a cola and taking on one of the best-known brands in the world doesn’t sound like it would be a success – not even Sir Richard Branson could topple Coke with Virgin Cola. But Miranda Walker, the co-founder of the Ubuntu Trading Company, was not deterred. She launched Ubuntu, a cola drink, in September [...]
APPS June 10, 2010 Q. What exactly is an iPhone application and why is it useful? A. An iPhone app is essentially a tiny website that taps into your iPhone’s capabilities such as its GPS, camera or compass. But, unlike a regular website loaded on your phone, an app is built to communicate directly with the available hardware of [...]