Independent Scotland would need £100bn to avoid recession, UBS warns September 16, 2014 The remainder of the UK could have to lend an independent Scotland as much as £100bn to avoid a calamitous recession north of the border, a group of economists warned yesterday. Any suggestion of such a deal could lead to a rebellion by English MPs who are already frustrated by party leaders’ offer to spend [...]
Mitchells & Butlers nearing finish line in its bid to buy Orchid pubs May 29, 2014 A BEVY of All Bar Ones and Harvester pubs could soon be flooding the high street after owner Mitchells & Butlers announced it was nearing a deal to acquire a portfolio of pub sites from operator Orchid Group. M&B, which runs about 1,600 pubs and restaurants across the UK, said it was in exclusive talks [...]
LinkedIn acquisitions in numbers: $175m for Bizo is biggest buy yet for cautious company July 23, 2014 LinkedIn picked up San Francisco-based b2b marketing company Bizo for $175m yesterday, the most expensive acquisition to date for the social network. In a time of regular million dollar acquisitions by other internet companies, billion dollar buys by the likes of Facebook and Google, and Apple revealing in its earnings call yesterday that it completed [...]
Mike Ashley retains House of Fraser stake as Nanjing Xinjiekou sale goes through September 2, 2014 The sale of department store House of Fraser to Chinese conglomerate Nanjing Xinjiekou has gone through today – with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley retaining his 11 per cent stake. The deal values the business at around £480m – probably more than it would have valued at, had chairman Don McCarthy gone through with [...]
Could pee-power be the next energy source? Bill Gates backs scientists using urine to charge phones August 14, 2014 When explorers were filling in the 'here be dragons' gaps on maps and discovering weird and wonderful things like the potato, drinking urine was often resorted to as a means of survival. Now the BioEnergy team at Bristol Robotics Laboratory – a collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of the West [...]
Why Sir Richard Broadbent could be next to checkout at Tesco after £250m profit overstatement debacle September 24, 2014 Things are always unnoticed until they’re noticed.” Those seven Rumsfeld-esque words could seal Sir Richard Broadbent’s fate as Tesco chairman. Responding to questions about the accounting debacle at Britain’s biggest retailer, Broadbent offered a painful reminder of how quickly events can spiral out of the control of even the grandest of grandees. The [...]
Lloyds private equity arm sells Metronet to Isis in £45m buyout June 30, 2014 The private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group has sold its stake in Manchester-based tech group Metronet (UK) to Isis Equity Partners for £45m. Lloyds Development Capital, which ploughed £11m into Metronet in 2012, had made a four times return on its equity investment after selling the stake, it said. Metronet [...]
Shares in BSkyB drop by 2.4pc as European merger talks confirmed May 12, 2014 INVESTORS yesterday shunned Rupert Murdoch’s plans to create a new satellite TV giant in Europe, sending shares in BSkyB 2.4 per cent lower after the group confirmed it is in talks with 21st Century Fox to buy its stakes in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. The deal, which analysts say could be worth up to £8.8bn [...]
And the nominees are… September 7, 2014 TOMORROW: ACCOUNTANCY FIRM OF THE YEAR ALDI The German discounter has taken the British high street by storm. Aldi now has a 4.6 per cent share of the UK market, up more than one third in a year due to consumers choosing its quality and low prices over the more established retailers. It has even [...]
UK shoemaker pumped up by sole investor January 20, 2014 HOTTER Shoes, the UK’s biggest shoe manufacturer, has been sold to Electra Private Equity in a £200m deal giving buyout house control of the company. The 55-year-old business, captained by founder Stewart Houlgrave, has been owned by rival private equity firm Gresham since 2007, expanding from five to 56 stores during that time. Listed fund [...]