News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Sweet success is on the horizon for G founders

November 15, 2009

CHOCOLATE mousse firm Gü is in the final stages of its proposed sale, with Noble Foods believed to be the front-runner for the deal. Gü founder James Averdieck founded the brand back in 2003 with £100,000 of personal funds, but appointed Cavendish Corporate Finance in May this year to work on a sale of the [...]
Superdry set to smash its way into FTSE 250

November 15, 2009

Supergroup, the fashion retailer behind the Superdry brand best known for its urban style and for gracing David Beckham’s body, is set to strut its way into the FTSE 250 next year with a stock market listing valuing the business at £400m. The retailer has hired City broker Seymour Pierce to advise on the float, [...]
Paddy Power targets France

November 12, 2009

IRISH bookmaker Paddy Power will move into the French online sports betting market and said it remained on track to meet market consensus for full-year profits yesterday. Ireland’s biggest bookie agreed a five-year outsourcing deal to provide betting technology and pricing for French horse racing operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), the largest betting organisation in [...]
Germany: GM should find Opel funds independently

November 12, 2009

GENERAL MOTORS (GM) should come up with its own financing for Opel, Germany’s economy minister Rainer Bruederle said yesterday, after the US carmaker axed plans to sell off its European arm. In a blow to the group, which is seeking state aid, he said GM should shoulder the responsibility of restructuring Opel, which trades as [...]
O2 tops rivals and grows in third quarter

November 12, 2009

Mobile operator O2 said yesterday that it was the only UK network to grow its revenues in the third quarter, as it benefited from its since-expired deal to be the exclusive seller of Apple’s iPhone. The UK arm of Spain’s Telefonica said that it saw demand for its mobile data services – customers accessing the [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS

November 12, 2009

DAIRY CRESTKBC Peel Hunt upped its target price for Dairy Crest from 360p to 400p following the firm’s interim results, which were in line with expectations. The broker said that the news in the numbers was a significant reduction in net debt and an increase in the pension fund. It increased its pre-tax profit forecasts [...]
East Coast Line handed to state

November 12, 2009

The Department for Transport (DfT) will today take over the running of National Express’s East Coast Main Line, after the transport group failed to find the £1.3bn it needed to pay in premiums for the lifetime of the franchise. The rail unions are urging the DfT to keep the major London to Scotland route in [...]
Irish bad bank gets approval

November 12, 2009

Ireland’s parliament yesterday approved a €54bn (£48.4bn) bad bank plan to remove banks’ problem loans arising from a property market bust and help move Ireland out of recession. Dublin has pumped €11bn of capital into its banks, nationalised Anglo Irish Bank and introduced a blanket guarantee for bank liabilities, and now hopes the National Asset [...]
London Mining drills deep

November 12, 2009

London Mining, the steel-feed specialist that listed on AIM last week, said yesterday that it has made “significant headway” on its three key projects – in Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia and Greenland – in the third quarter of the year, and that it is planning to start drilling a further 22,000m to expand its existing [...]
Starbuck admits McCafe impact

November 12, 2009

Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said yesterday that McDonald’s McCafe launch earlier this year made the cafe chain better. Starbucks executives have repeatedly said that the world’s largest hamburger chain’s entry into the market for espresso-based drinks had no impact on Starbucks.