Kingfisher returns £200m to shareholders March 25, 2014 KINGFISHER, the owner of DIY chains B&Q and Screwfix, announced plans to hand £200m to shareholders as brighter prospects in the UK helped boost its full-year performance, sending shares up six per cent yesterday. Finance director Karen Witts said it will launch a multi-year programme starting with £200m in this financial year – its first [...]
Taylor Wimpey returns £250m to shareholders February 26, 2014 TAYLOR Wimpey said yesterday it would pay £250m to shareholders after it became the latest housebuilder to report impressive results on the back of a surging housing market. The company said it will pay shareholders a special dividend of £50m in 2014, and £200m in 2015 from its growing cash pile, with plans for further [...]
Inside Track: JP Morgan is outpacing rivals in UK equity transactions March 28, 2014 WHEN the venerable David Mayhew sold 50 per cent of Cazenove to JP Morgan 10 years ago, there were many who predicted the gradual demise of the influence of that august stockbroking house. After all the City memory bank is filled deep with the names of institutions, such as Warburg, Kleinwort Benson and Smith New [...]
Traders paw off Pets at Home as shares fall back March 12, 2014 PETS at Home shares fell by a whisker in initial trading yesterday as the £1.2bn float was left in the shade by a strong debut from fellow high street chain Poundland. Pets, which floated at 245p yesterday morning, ended the day trading around 243p after falling as low as 230p during a rocky start in [...]
Swoop for debt firm heralds pay day for founder February 10, 2014 A DEBT collection agency founded in a living room in Wimbledon was sold yesterday to a JC Flowers-backed business for £295m, netting its founder about £25m. Marlin Financial, which was founded 12 years ago by entrepreneur Martin Dunphy, was sold to JC-backed Cabot Credit Management after a deal was struck over the weekend. The acquisition [...]
Aviva Investors offloads stake in Dublin’s Liffey Valley for €250m February 17, 2014 AVIVA Investors has sold its majority stake in a Dublin mall in a deal worth over €250m (£205m), it announced yesterday, in the latest sign of a resurgent Irish property market. The firm, which developed the Liffey Valley site 15 years ago, had looked to exit its 72.8 per cent holding in 2011 but scrapped [...]
Focus on Kennington: Undiscovered gem in south London February 13, 2014 IT’S HARD to find an area in this city that hasn’t been re-discovered, re-packaged, and re-sold to the highest bidder in recent years. But one pocket of central London still remains an underrated gem, ripe for development, and increasingly attractive to investors. Kennington, located just south of the river from Westminster, has housed a heady [...]
Mears replaces corporate brokers January 8, 2014 Mears, the social housing support services group, yesterday said it has hired Liberum and Peel Hunt as its joint corporate brokers, replacing Investec and Canaccord. Steve Pearce and Steve Tredget will be leading the Liberum team, while Justin Jones and Mike Bell are key players on the Peel Hunt team. Mears sold its specialist mechanical [...]
US buyout house wins race for credit checking firm Callcredit February 17, 2014 CREDIT reference agency Callcredit Information Group has been sold to a US-based private equity outfit as part of a £480m-plus management buyout of the group. The Yorkshire business, which employs about 950 people in the UK and overseas, has been bought by Chicago-based GTCR after winning a hotly contested bidding process, with management taking a [...]
Carney: House price boom set to end in 2016 January 18, 2014 BANK of England governor Mark Carney expects the recent surge in the property market to cool by 2016, as figures today confirm that house sales have returned to levels last seen in early 2008. The governor said that he is projecting “a continuation of the current momentum into 2014, before decelerating around the middle of [...]