AA confirms plans to float at £1.4bn valuation June 6, 2014 Britain's largest car insurer and roadside recovery firm, the AA, has confirmed its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange in the second half of June. The company's current private equity owners want to sell off the stock to a buy-in team, backed by institutional investors, who will then take it public. They'll be [...]
AA speeds up plans for a £4bn London float despite Saga flop June 5, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest car insurer and roadside recovery firm, the AA, is reportedly set to push on with plans for float that will value the company at around £4bn. The listing will be part of a process known as an accelerated initial public offering by parent company Acromas, which could be announced today according to Sky [...]
How Google’s driverless cars could save your life – and make you money May 28, 2014 WHEN the man behind the Segway, the battery-powered personal mobility scooter, died after riding one of his products off a cliff, it seemed like a grim end to yet another transport fad. After the Sinclair C5, the hovercraft, the poweriser and the Segway, it’s easy to be sceptical about the next sci-fi “leap” in transportation. [...]
Google to put driverless cars on the roads May 28, 2014 GOOGLE is rolling out 100 self-driving cars in California, in a trial the tech giant hopes will pave the way for widespread global use. After clocking up 700,000 miles of autonomous driving in adapted cars, Google is ready to put its specially-built driverless vehicles onto the streets. The prototypes have space for two passengers, operate [...]
How Google’s driverless cars could save your life – and make you money May 28, 2014 WHEN the man behind the Segway, the battery-powered personal mobility scooter, died after riding one of his products off a cliff, it seemed like a grim end to yet another transport fad. After the Sinclair C5, the hovercraft, the poweriser and the Segway, it’s easy to be sceptical about the next sci-fi “leap” in transportation. [...]
Reed Elsevier buys Wunelli to beef up its telematics business May 20, 2014 INFORMATION services group Reed Elsevier has bought UK-based Wunelli, a telematics provider, in a deal thought to be worth around £25m. Telematics, the practice of sending data about drivers to an insurance company to calculate an accurate personal premium, is growing in popularity in the UK. Reed acquired the company in a bid to beef [...]
City Matters: How British companies can help Latin America unlock its huge potential May 18, 2014 THE EYES of the world are turning to Brazil as “the beautiful game” returns to its spiritual home next month. This is an exciting time for all the teams involved ahead of the World Cup, but also one filled with major challenges and opportunities – a situation not dissimilar to that facing Latin America as [...]
What’s in a name? May 15, 2014 WHEN this big retail merger is finalised, the combined group will be known as Dixons Carphone. But why are they hanging onto the Carphone bit when no-one has one anymore? The first car phone was used in St Louis on 17 June 1946. It had three channels and weighed 36kg. Six years ago, analog cellular service, [...]
Why’s it called Dixons Carphone? Nobody’s used a car phone in years May 15, 2014 High street staples Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail have confirmed today that they’ll be merging to form a new company called Dixons Carphone. But why are they hanging on to the ‘Carphone’ bit when no-one has one anymore? The first car phone was used in St Louis on 17 June 1946. It has three channels [...]
Why’s it called Dixons Carphone? Nobody’s used a car phone in years May 15, 2014 High street staples Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail have confirmed today that they’ll be merging to form a new company called Dixons Carphone. But why are they hanging on to the ‘Carphone' bit when no-one has one anymore? The first car phone was used in St Louis on 17 June 1946. It has three channels [...]