George Osborne starts £2bn Royal Bank of Scotland sell-off August 4, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has kick started the government's first sale of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today, a sale likely to raise £2bn for the government. UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the agency which holds the government's 79 per cent stake in RBS, announced its intention to sell about 600m shares, representing 5.2 per [...]
Just Eat earnings up 62 per cent as the digital food business keeps piling on the pounds August 4, 2015 Just Eat is gobbling up market share, with earnings up almost two-thirds in the first half of 2015 as the business says it expects at least two years of “over-performance”, The figures The digital food marketplace grew revenues 54 per cent to £107.8m in the six months to 30 June, while underlying EBITDA rose [...]
AlixPartners names former Zolfo Cooper boss Simon Freakley as its new chief exec August 4, 2015 Turnaround specialist AlixPartners yesterday named Simon Freakley as its new chief executive. The company, which is owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, said Freakley would take on the co-CEO role alongside current boss Fred Crawford immediately. He will become sole chief executive from 1 January 2016 onwards. Crawford will take a new role [...]
School holiday season boosts retail figures at Birmingham Bullring operator Hammerson August 4, 2015 The start of the school holiday season helped drive a sharp rise in retail sales in July, according to one of Britain’s biggest shopping centre owners. Hammerson, which owns the Bullring in Birmingham as well as north London’s Brent Cross shopping centre, launched the Hammerson Retail Tracker — or HART — earlier this year to [...]
HSBC share price rises as profit climbs 10 per cent and it confirms Brazil unit sale August 4, 2015 The UK's biggest bank has unveiled a 10 per cent rise in profits – but it has yet to decide whether it will remain headquartered in the UK. Shares in HSBC were trading up 0.6 per cent to 583p in London today. The figures HSBC said profit climbed 10 per cent to $13.6bn (£8.7bn) in the first six [...]
Heineken proves a good sport after profits beat expectations August 4, 2015 Dutch brewer Heineken is counting on its sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup to help boost sales in the second half after posting better-than-expected profits in the first six months of the year. Organic revenues rose two per cent to €10.9bn (£7.7bn) thanks to double-digit volume growth of higher-margin brands including Desperados and Sol Premium. [...]
Twitter shares plummet 5.7 per cent to close at record low August 3, 2015 Shares in Twitter have closed at a record low after tanking 5.7 per cent to $29.27 amid concerns about the prospects for the social media platform's growth. Since their peak in January 2014 when investors were excited about the potential for growth at the newly public social media company, Twitter shares have fallen 58 per [...]
Gloo Networks IPO raises cash from Invesco and Standard Life August 3, 2015 A clutch of City fund managers have backed the flotation of a digital acquisition vehicle called Gloo Networks. Invesco Asset Management, Ruffer and Standard Life are among a number of fund managers that have bought shares in the firm, which will list on the alternative investment market. Gloo is the brainchild of the former digital [...]
The Jerky Group and Cruga merge to create £24m beef snacks empire August 3, 2015 The Jerky Group has struck a deal to merge with biltong and meat snacks-maker Cruga to create the largest beef snack manufacturer in Europe with a combined turnover of around £12m. Founded in 2000, The Jerky Group’s brands include Wild West Jerky, Hogbites pork crackling and BullOx Biltong. It also produces Dragon’ Den entrepreneur Joe Walters’ [...]
Tom Hayes Libor trial timeline key dates: Former trader accused on attempting to manipulate Libor rate August 3, 2015 Well, that's it: former UBS and Citibank trader Tom Hayes has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, after being found guilty on eight counts of conspiring to rig the Libor rate. During a nine-week trial, the prosecution painted Hayes as someone who acted in a "thoroughly dishonest and manipulative manner" to mastermind a web [...]
