B&M Retail lines up £2.5bn stock market debut May 22, 2014 B&M RETAIL, the discount shopping chain, yesterday batted away fears of a slowdown in London’s new issues market as it unveiled plans for a £2.5bn main market float. The chain, founded in 1978 by a shopkeeper in Blackpool, said its £1.2bn turnover, ambitious expansion plans and overseas subsidiaries set the company apart from others trying [...]
Pearson sells stake in The Economist Group for £469m August 12, 2015 Pearson has agreed to sell its 50 per cent stake in The Economist Group for £469m just weeks after offloading the Financial Times. Italian investment group Exor take on 27.8 per cent of The Economist's ordinary shares for £227.5m and all of the B special shares for £59.5m. Pearson's remaining ordinary shares will be [...]
Doddle’s Tim Robinson talks 2016, the future of shopping and why he’s looking for a new partner January 18, 2016 Have you used Doddle? If you have, then you’ll either have done so once or 13 times, Tim Robinson, chief executive of the parcel collect and send service tells me. Founded in the autumn of 2014, Doddle has done rather well so far. Over its 2015 peak trading period (the run-up to Christmas), it saw [...]
Living near a noisy London road could shorten your life June 24, 2015 Living near a noisy main road in London shortens life expectancy, according to a new report published in the European Heart Journal. Read more: Living in a noisy area increases your chance of being overweight By comparing noise levels with incidences of death across the whole M25 zone between 2003 and 2010, researchers at [...]
FTSE 100 closes 0.3 per cent up (but fell 2.7 per cent in 2014) December 31, 2014 The FTSE 100 ended the year at 6,566.09 points, 0.3 per cent higher than yesterday's close, as trading ended early on New Year's Eve. However, the index was 2.7 per cent down on the beginning of the year, as equities were rocked by headwinds from global markets. Alastair McCraig, a market analyst at IG, pointed [...]
Kingfisher sells off loss-making B&Q business in China for £140m December 22, 2014 DIY GROUP Kingfisher said yesterday it had agreed to sell a 70 per cent stake in its loss-making B&Q China business to Wumei Holdings for £140m. The deal came after the retailer announced in March that it was searching for a strategic partner to help grow its B&Q business in China, which is made up [...]
Fitbit has priced its shares for its IPO June 2, 2015 Exercise tracker startup Fitbit is pricing its shares at between $14 and $16 when it IPOs. The company behind the cult fitness device that measures an individual's activity, plans to offer nearly 22.4m shares from its Class A common stock, while shareholders are selling a further 7.5m of their Class B stock. Fitbit [...]
M&B is upbeat despite a 13pc decline in profit November 25, 2014 UK PUB and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers posted promising results yesterday, despite recording a 13 per cent loss in profits for the financial year ended 27 September. The Birmingham-based firm saw its pre-tax profit fall to £123m for the year, from £142m last year. It said a key drag on profits came from integrating [...]
UK property: Britain’s struggling pub trade is yielding opportunities for supermarkets and residential developers August 25, 2015 The Grotto Inn on the top of Monument Hill in Weybridge was a thriving pub before falling on hard times three years ago. It was forced to call last orders after succumbing to competition from nearby bars and pubs and has lain empty since – its windows boarded up and beer taps gathering dust. [...]
Kingfisher profits knocked by foreign exchange volatility, but share price is up nonetheless May 28, 2015 Currency volatility did Kingfisher no favours in the first quarter of 2015, but investors have not been put off. The figures Sales for the company, which owns B&Q, rose slightly by 0.8 per cent to £2.6m during the first three months of the year. Retail profit was also up by 1.4 per cent at £150m [...]