How B&M Retail IPO nearly beat Prada June 12, 2014 A budget department store founded by a shopkeeper in Blackpool during the late 1970’s has today become the biggest retailer to come to the stock market since fashion house Prada three years ago. According to fresh figures released this afternoon B&M Retail, which started life in the seaside resort in 1978, raised £1.1bn ($1.8bn) in [...]
How this UK discount retailer nearly beat Prada June 12, 2014 A budget department store founded by a shopkeeper in Blackpool during the late 1970’s has today become the biggest retailer to come to the stock market since fashion house Prada three years ago. According to fresh figures released this afternoon B&M Retail, which started life in the seaside resort in 1978, raised £1.1bn ($1.8bn) in [...]
Private equity under fire as floats plunge June 23, 2014 PRIVATE equity is under renewed scrutiny from buyside investors after two floats backed by Europe’s biggest buyout houses slumped in market trading yesterday. Shares in holiday website eDreams Odigeo plunged more than a third just eight weeks after Permira and Ardian sold part of their stake. The group, which became the first stock market listing [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 16, 2014 US stocks futures headed lower today, suggesting a less-than-impressive end to the week. Global shares have eased back for the third day in a row, and the dollar’s seen further losses against the yen. Better news on the data front, though – a shock jump in housing starts. In April, the speed of construction of [...]
Radley plots ambitious growth plans after strong sales figures May 11, 2014 RADLEY, the purveyor of handbags stamped with its famous Scottish Terrier logo, is set to follow in the footsteps of other British fashion brands by pushing into Asia to tap the region’s burgeoning middle class consumers. The private equity backed company, which started life on a market stall in Camden, is eyeing ambitious growth plans [...]
Billionaire Mike Ashley offloads a £218m stake in Sports Direct April 7, 2014 SPORTS Direct founder Mike Ashley is to sell £218m of his majority stake in the retailer in the latest twist in a series of events that saw him snap up a stake in House of Fraser just days ago. Ashley is selling up to 25m shares in Sports Direct through an accelerated bookbuilding run by [...]
Focus on… Ladbroke Grove: Feeling the love for Ladbroke Grove May 22, 2014 IT MAY be a small area, but Ladbroke Grove in west London is making a big impact on the property market. The area just north of Kensington and south of Paddington is a bustling collection of tree-lined streets packed with boutique shops, independent restaurants and Portobello Road Market. “It’s set itself apart from nearby areas [...]
City workers fuel Midtown housing boom May 12, 2014 HOUSE prices in the area dubbed Midtown have outpaced the greater London market in the first three months of the year due to a surge in demand from buyers working in the capital’s financial sector, new research out yesterday shows. According to property consultants CBRE, the price of a property in Midtown – between the [...]
Home sales up despite low supply May 7, 2014 THE HOUSING market’s upswing showed no signs of subsiding last month, with the average homes sold for each chartered surveyor at the highest level since 2008, according to a report published this morning. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the imbalance between demand and supply in residential property worsened last month. Despite [...]
Buy a family home in seclusion next to Richmond Park April 10, 2014 Find out why creative types are leaving central London for new leafy townhouses PRIVACY is becoming the new buzzword in high-end property. As London’s population grows and house-building becomes a top political priority, homeowners are becoming increasingly reluctant to live on top of their neighbours. In search of a room of their own, away from [...]