Mooove over Sainsbury’s: Waitrose claims its dairy farmers get the cream of milk prices January 26, 2015 Premium supermarket Waitrose has lifted the lid on its dairy practices following Sainsbury's attack ad last week, insisting it pays “a fair price” for its milk. The John Lewis Partnership-owned grocer was among those to appear on the naughty list of businesses that were accused of not supporting British fresh milk farmers. The [...]
Tesco bolsters its corporate finance team January 26, 2015 Embattled Tesco is bolstering its corporate finance team, implying the retailer will take more moves to increase its cash position in the future. The supermarket is reported to have headhunters searching for someone to lead a small corporate finance department, which would look at investment opportunities, portfolio reviews and mergers and acquisitions. The new role [...]
Tesco sells off Blinkbox Music to Guvera January 26, 2015 Tesco has offloaded its music streaming service Blinkbox Music to Australian firm Guvera for an undisclosed sum, but thought to be significantly less than the £10m the supermarket paid to acquire the service. Tesco bought digital service WE7 in 2012, rolling it into its digital entertainment arm, Blinkbox, and rebranding it under the new Blinkbox [...]
Balfour Beatty preferred bidder on 50-year contract with University of Sussex January 26, 2015 Balfour Beatty is poised to pick up a 50-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a major residential contract for the University of Sussex. The construction firm has been appointed the preferred bidder for the project, which will replace a 600-bed facility on the university's campus with a new 2,000-room site. The [...]
Falling oil prices set back Aveva who warn of results hit January 26, 2015 Engineering software firm Aveva has warned investors sales have been stuttering due to falling oil prices. The company is reliant on the oil and gas market for 45 per cent of its revenues, but says it is now “experiencing increased uncertainty and reduced visibility” in the sector which has been “exaggerated recently by the [...]
SSE price cuts: Fifth energy supplier slashes gas prices following Npower, British Gas, E.On, and Scottish Power January 26, 2015 SSE is the latest energy supplier to cut its prices, passing on savings from the falling cost of wholesale gas to customers. The energy giant will slash its household gas prices by 4.1 per cent, or £28 a year on the typical gas bill. The cuts will take effect from 30 April and the lower [...]
Aer Lingus is considering IAG’s increased offer January 26, 2015 Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus is considering a takeover bid by British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG). In a market update this morning, it said: “the board is considering the revised proposal”. The most recent offer, which is the third IAG has made since December, values the Irish airline at €1.34bn (£1bn), or €2.50 [...]
OnTheMarket vs Zoopla: Property portals at war as estate agents’ website enters the market January 26, 2015 A war of words broke out last night as the boss of property portal Zoopla labelled OnTheMarket – a new challenger in the property portal space – as “a regressive business model trying to stifle innovation”. The new property sales website, mutually owned by estate agents including Savills and Knight Frank, is being launched this [...]
Profit warnings at FTSE listed companies soar to crisis levels January 26, 2015 Profit warnings from UK-listed corporates hit a six-year high last year, despite stronger economic growth across the country. FTSE-listed firms issued 299 profit warnings last year up from 255 in 2013. The figure is the highest since the peak of the financial crisis in 2008. A fifth of the warnings were sparked by contract delays [...]
Mobile market activity booms as Sky eyes deal with O2 or Vodafone January 26, 2015 Mobile consolidation is set to be a hot topic again this week as European pay-TV operator Sky has been linked in talks with O2 and Vodafone to launch its own mobile offering on one of their networks. The talks come as BT races to finalise more details around its £12.5bn takeover of EE, which it [...]