Shire splashes out AbbVie cash with $5.2bn acquisition of NPS Pharma January 12, 2015 UK drugmaker Shire bounced back from its botched takeover by pharma giant AbbVie last night to seal a $5.2bn acquisition of US firm NPS Pharma – using its multi-billion dollar breakup fee from AbbVie to help fund the spending spree. Shire has agreed to buy the US listed biotech firm for $46 a share – [...]
Shire to acquire NPS Pharma in $5.2bn merger January 11, 2015 UK company Shire is to aquire with NPS Pharmaceuticals, according to a statement by the companies. The two have entered into a merger agreement, with Shire buying all outstanding NPS shares for $46 (£30.48) each, with the total said to be at $5.2bn. According to the statement, Shire will look to accelerate NPS Pharma’s innovative [...]
Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon share prices among biggest FTSE fallers as Jefferies slashes ratings January 9, 2015 Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon were among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 this morning, after broker Jefferies cut its rating across the sector. Shares in Taylor Wimpey – whose rating was cut to "hold" from "buy" – were down 4.9 per cent in lunchtime trading, while Barratt and Persimmon, which were both [...]
Tesco share price rallies as chief Dave Lewis wins over City funds, but Moody’s issues junk rating January 8, 2015 Tesco boss Dave Lewis won the cautious backing of stock-pickers yesterday as he unveiled radical plans to cut hundreds of millions of pounds worth of costs in a bid to revive the fortunes of the troubled supermarket. Shares rallied 15 per cent, marking their biggest one-day gain in six years. Yet lenders to the retail [...]
Ted Baker reaps good tidings from Christmas January 8, 2015 LUXURY fashion group Ted Baker has had a good Christmas. It saw retail sales up 23 per cent year-on-year in the eight weeks to 3 January and enjoyed a 66 per cent rise in online sales. “We will continue to invest in people and infrastructure as we expand the Ted Baker brand globally,” said chief [...]
M&S share price tumbles as Christmas delivery woes send sale figures plunging January 8, 2015 Delivery problems over the Christmas period have been blamed for poor quarterly results at Marks and Spencers, which sent shares tumbling by more than 3.5 per cent yesterday. The firm reported that sales of general merchandise, which included clothing and homewares, fell 5.4 per cent in the three months to 27 December, while international sales [...]
Tesco store closures: Councils digest shock as Chesnut HQ staff move to Welwyn Garden City and outlets shut January 8, 2015 While investors rejoiced, councils and local planning authorities were left reeling yesterday after Tesco announced it would close its Cheshunt HQ, some existing stores and shelve new planing projects amid a raft of changes aimed at cutting costs. Britain’s biggest supermarket said staff at its north London base would move to its offices in Welwyn [...]
Tesco mulls dumping data arm Dunnhumby in asset sell-off January 8, 2015 Britain’s largest supermarket Tesco said yesterday it could sell off its Dunnhumby data business as it announced plans for widespread cost-cuttings and asset sales. The retail titan said it had appointed Goldman Sachs to explore the options for Dunnhumby – the company that helped to create Tesco’s customer clubcard scheme in 1995. Those options could [...]
Halfords share price plunges as chief executive Matt Davies poached by Tesco January 8, 2015 Shares in bikes-to-car parts retailer Halfords plunged 8.5 per cent yesterday after Tesco announced it had poached chief executive Matt Davies to head up its UK and Ireland business. The former Pets at Home boss was hired in 2012 to lead a turnaround of the tired chain, which had issued nine profit warnings in the [...]
Imagination’s FTSE dream on road to reality January 8, 2015 Imagination Technologies chief executive Sir Hossein Yassaie said yesterday that he believed the British graphics chip designer was on the right track to becoming a FTSE 100 business. Yassaie’s confidence came after Imagination signalled in December that the business would begin slowly transitioning from an investment phase into a deployment phase, which Yassaie hoped would [...]