Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s first Budget in 14 years, announcing £40bn of tax rises, Central London Alliance comments
Flappy Bird’s earnings pale in comparison with these big players February 12, 2014 When Flappy Bird creator Nguyen Ha Dong revealed he was making over $50,000 (£30,250) a day from the game, before he removed it from distribution, pundits were certainly shocked. But the smartphone App Store gold rush, those are rookie numbers compared to some larger game makers. Supercell, behind both Hay Day (the eighth highest grossing [...]
Candy Crush investors set for windfall from King’s US float February 9, 2014 KING, the firm behind hit mobile phone game Candy Crush Saga, is set to return millions to investors during an expected $5bn (£3bn) initial public offering (IPO) on America’s Nasdaq later this year. The company’s chairman and seed investor, Mel Morris, who provided initial funding to the game company from the £100m sale of matchmaking [...]
City & Gild: As the economy improves, a new battle between value and volume emerges January 31, 2014 What should the consumer make of the recent spat between Adidas and Sports Direct, and how will the unfolding saga affect each brand? At the end of last year, the German sportswear giant refused to supply the retail chain with Chelsea latest replica kit. From my perspective, there will no doubt be some turbulence in [...]
Inside Track: Don’t fret: there’s no doubt the deals are on their way January 23, 2014 ONE banker told me the pipeline for new issue deals is as big as he has seen it over the past decade. While another deal-maker says he’s been getting up at 4.30am every morning. And that’s not to watch re-runs of The Wire or Mad Men. It’s the only way to get his work done. [...]
Coen brothers deliver the goods January 23, 2014 FILM INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Cert 15 | By Alex Dymoke Four Stars INSIDE Llewyn Davis is an offbeat, directionless sulk through the unforgiving streets of early 60s New York. These 60s don’t so much swing as shiver: winter-time Greenwich Village is wan, washed-out, freezing. The aspiring musicians who shuffle through it aren’t carried forth by [...]
Saga tests water with customers for market float January 20, 2014 SAGA, the over-50s insurer, has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help plot a share offering for its 2.7m customers as part of a mooted £3bn stock market float. The cruise ship specialist, which is led by boss Andrew Goodsell, will test the water with customers this week to gauge interest in the plan [...]
Domino’s takes away bumper sales growth in 2013 January 8, 2014 Domino's Pizza has seen like-for-like sales jump by an impressive 10.9 per cent in its 670 UK mature stores in the 13 weeks to 29 December. The takeaway food company said the rise in sales was partly driven by increased digital marketing activity, as well as a more favourable timing of the Christmas break compared [...]
Bumper December helps Apple top $10bn in app sales in 2013 January 7, 2014 APPLE said yesterday that its customers spent $1bn (£610m) on purchases in its applications store in December, leading to a total of $10bn worth of apps sold in 2013. Apple reported that almost three billion apps were downloaded in December, making it a record month for the store, which offers one million apps for the [...]
Deal-makers are hoping that UK M&A returns to form January 6, 2014 AS WE head into the New Year the City will be cautiously optimistic about likely activity in the corporate finance markets in 2014. Last year saw a major revival in the new issues or initial public offering (IPO) market, which had been virtually dead in 2012. UK IPO revenue totals were 274 per cent up [...]
The year in preview: Our in-depth guide January 5, 2014 City A.M.’s journalists take a wide-ranging look at what 2014 has in store for the world of finance and business BANKINGRestoring faith means costly overhaulsA CAUTIOUS optimism pervades the British and European banking system at the start of 2014. The incoming economic recovery is at last improving customers’ creditworthiness, while the hard work running down [...]