Asda poaches Sainsbury’s executive Roger Burnley to be chief operating officer October 13, 2015 Asda has poached one of rival Sainsbury’s top executives as competition among the supermarket chains heats up. Sainsbury’s retail and operations director Roger Burnley is jumping ship to take up the role of chief operating officer at Asda, the Walmart-owned group announced this morning. The appointment comes after Asda reported its worst ever quarterly result in the 16 [...]
Volkswagen cuts annual investment by €1bn to counter emissions scandal losses October 13, 2015 Volkswagen its slashing annual investment by €1bn in order to counter losses it will suffer as a result of its emissions scandal. In a statement this morning, the German car maker said it was changing its strategy for diesel cars, saying they “will be equipped with exhaust emissions systems that use the best environmental technology”. Read [...]
Royal Mail share sale: The government has missed an opportunity by excluding retail investors from this privatisation October 13, 2015 News the government has sold its remaining 14 per cent stake in Royal Mail to institutional and professional investors goes against the clear popularity and demand for retail offerings in privatisations. Registrations of interest for next year’s Lloyds Banking Group share offer are already in the hundreds of thousands. It would seem wild horses couldn’t drag [...]
SABMiller share price soars after reaching megabrew agreement in principle with AB InBev on takeover worth £44 a share October 13, 2015 The megabrew deal is finally on: SABMiller and AB InBev have reached an agreement on a buyout deal that could create the world’s biggest brewing company by far. Investors flocked to SABMiller, making it the FTSE's biggest riser after news broke this morning that the world’s two biggest beer-makers had agreed in principle a takeover worth £44 [...]
Bellway share price soars as housebuilder’s profit beats expectations on record house sales October 13, 2015 The figures Bellway shares rose 3.5 per cent in mid-morning trading as the UK housebuilder smashed expectations, reporting pre-tax profits soaring by 44 per cent year-on-year to hit £354.2m in the year to 31 July, comfortably ahead of analysts’ expectations of £343m. The housebuilder, one of the UK's largest, sold 7,752 homes, up 13.2 per cent, [...]
Worldpay’s London IPO will be biggest of 2015: Listing at 240p per share, valuing company at £4.8bn October 13, 2015 Payments processor Worldpay Group has priced its initial offer at 240p per ordinary share – almost exactly in the middle of expectations – meaning the company will have a market cap of £4.8bn when it goes public. This makes it the biggest float this year, easily besting Auto Trader, which went public in March with a valuation [...]
UK retail sales bounced back in September after miserable weather hurt August spending – BRC October 13, 2015 UK retail sales bounced back in September after the miserable weather in August brought summer to an abrupt end. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG this morning show that like-for-like UK retail sales were up 2.6 per cent in September compared with the same month last year, when they had decreased 2.1 [...]
Barclays close to appointing Jes Staley as new chief executive, reports October 12, 2015 Barclays is to announce its new chief executive as Jes Staley, according to reports. As John McFarlane, Barclays' chairman, looks to address shareholders' concerns about the institution's investment banking arm, those familiar with the matter have suggested that Antony Jenkins' successor could be announced within the next two weeks. Read more: Barclays share price climbs after board [...]
US justice department to probe AB InBev after allegations it is seeking to curb craft beer distribution October 12, 2015 Brewing giant AB InBev is being probed by the US justice department amid allegations that it is trying to curb competition in the industry by buying distributors, according to people familiar with the matter. AB InBev, Reuters reported, is buying distributors in order to make it harder for fast-growing craft beer brewers to get their products [...]
Babcock wins £100m MoD contract for engineering services to the Royal Navy October 12, 2015 Defence engineering support firm Babcock yesterday announced it had been awarded a new ministry of defence (MoD) contract and the extension of another one in a deal worth about £100m in revenue. The new five-year contract is for engineering services to the Royal Navy at air stations in the south west of England. The contract is to [...]
