One door closes, while others open – Editor’s letter October 21, 2014 Investment bankers are a bit like accountants. They see opportunities from every eventuality. Accountants thrive in the good times and the bad, with the big firms’ restructuring departments jumping into action when the economy turns sour. Yesterday as BCA Marketplace, owner of the webuyanycar.com website, pulled its stock market flotation in London, I asked one [...]
Business telecoms group Gamma valued at £165m ahead of float October 7, 2014 GAMMA Communications, a UK-based provider of business telecoms services, is due to float with a £165.2m market valuation on Friday after listing its shares with an opening price of 187p. The sale – which is understood to be priced towards the upper limit of what the company had hoped for – of around 44m shares [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Chancellor bids to get banks to pay tax quickly December 3, 2014 Britain's biggest banks will have to pay their taxes more quickly under new accounting rules brought in by the chancellor yesterday, bringing in an extra £3.5bn over the next four years. Lenders which made huge losses in the financial crisis are still offsetting current profits against those costs. The chancellor said he does not [...]
Best of the Brokers for 19 September 2014 September 18, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROYAL MAIL Investec has kept at “hold”, but cut the target price to 430p from 490p. The broker thinks the stock is at a crossroads, with Royal Mail hit on several fronts in recent months, but Investec still expects the transformation programme to [...]
Quindell share price falls as chairman Rob Terry steps down November 18, 2014 Chairman Rob Terry and non-executive director Steve Scott are leaving Quindell with immediate effect, while Laurence Moorse will remain at the company for 12 months after the 2015 annual meeting, the company confirmed this morning. Quindell investors appeared flummoxed by the news, with shares rising as much as 15 per cent on opening, but [...]
Synergy Health share price soars as US rival Steris reignites tax inversion debate with $1.9bn deal October 13, 2014 US medical technology giant Steris yesterday announced it had bought British health services provider Synergy Health in a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) deal that re-opened the US tax inversion debate. Steris said it would buy Synergy, whose shares rocketed by more than 30 per cent yesterday, in a cash-plus-shares deal that would shift its domicile to [...]
Fever-Tree IPO: Float priced tonight November 3, 2014 Bankers to the drinks mixers group Fever-Tree expect to price its stock market flotation tonight, confounding a poor market for new issues. Floating on London’s Aim, the listing will see 50 per cent of the drinks group bought by outside investors. The company is looking to raise just £4m of new money from the [...]
City Moves for 09 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 8, 2014 TSP The commercial property agency has announced two promotions. Jonathan Vanstone-Walker becomes director of surveying & agency. He joined TSP in 2011. Abigail Bridgland (pictured) becomes senior associate surveyor. She has been at the firm for two years. State Street Matt Davey has been appointed senior vice president and head of the asset manager client [...]
Bank lending down despite fund injection November 27, 2014 BANK lending to businesses dived again in the third quarter, the Bank of England said yesterday, despite the economic recovery. Institutions drew down almost £2bn from the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) in the three-month period – cheap funds intended to spur the provision of credit to businesses. But net lending to firms fell by [...]
City Moves for 11 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 10, 2014 Baringa James Belmont joins the management consultancy as director of its new risk analytics service. Belmont has over 15 years’ experience in consultancy and industry, and has held senior positions at Barclays, Alliance & Leicester and PA Consulting. Linklaters The law firm has appointed Scott Campbell as managing partner for the United Arab Emirates. The [...]