Micropayments are misguided July 27, 2011 APPLE has built its iTunes and App Store empire on micropayments, small one-off payments of between a few pence and a few pounds. Now ITV is hoping to emulate that success with its own “pay mechanism”, which will likely charge customers for accessing content online or through a TV on-demand system like Virgin Media. We [...]
Fuel price woe is a boon for bus firms June 29, 2011 YOU might not know it from clapped-out trains that break down in the wrong type of snow or, more recently, heat – but we are living in a golden age for public transport. Higher prices at the petrol pump and the recession have combined to force more and more people to ditch the car and [...]
Sell-off provides a buying opportunity June 21, 2011 WHEN fund managers sell off shares in the firm they work for, it hardly inspires confidence. So it is unsurprising that shares in Jupiter tumbled two per cent yesterday, after Edward Bonham Carter et al sold stock representing 5.7 per cent of Jupiter’s issued capital. However, Bonham Carter sold just 550,000 shares – only 12 [...]
Sell-off provides a buying opportunity June 21, 2011 WHEN fund managers sell off shares in the firm they work for, it hardly inspires confidence. So it is unsurprising that shares in Jupiter tumbled two per cent yesterday, after Edward Bonham Carter et al sold stock representing 5.7 per cent of Jupiter’s issued capital. However, Bonham Carter sold just 550,000 shares – only 12 [...]
Symbolic sacrifice of FD won’t save the day June 15, 2011 WHEN Costain offered 164.3p-a-share for Mouchel, someone should have bitten its hand off. Yesterday, its shares closed at 59.75p, less than half of the amount that was on the table. Management said the bid was too low – but it wasn’t as low as a preceding offer from Interserve, which reduced its own bid from [...]
Cowdery’s buyout fund is dead man walking but shares still worth a look June 7, 2011 WHEN Clive Cowdery returned with the second incarnation of Resolution, his life insurance consolidation vehicle, he had ambitions to match the firm’s moniker. To be frank, he hasn’t resolved very much and today’s £250m buyback suggests he doesn’t plan to either. February’s “pause” on new acquisitions is now looking like a final stop. The zombie [...]
Beware the excess baggage of Samsonite June 6, 2011 PRADA and Samsonite will go cap in hand to Hong Kong investors for a combined $4bn (£2.4bn) when they launch their IPOs this month. Both will claim membership of the luxury goods sector, which is booming in Asia. One is a century-old Italian doyen of haute couture, a byword for sophistication and class. The other [...]
ALSO OUT: May 19, 2011 DVD BLACK SWAN Natalie Portman on Oscar form in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller. THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 1 Surprisingly effective US TV hit with Brit Andrew Lincoln. THE NEXT THREE DAYS Formulaic thriller with Russell Crowe. GAMES L.A. NOIRE (PS3, X360) 1950s Los Angeles gangsterland is brought to scintillating life. THE WITCHER 2: ASSASSINS OF [...]
Outlook for electrical retailers is bleak May 15, 2011 AU revoir Britain, vive la France – that seems to be the prevailing view at Kesa, where management has asked bankers to put Comet, the underperforming British chain, on the block. That will allow Kesa to concentrate on the more profitable French business Darty, or so the theory goes. There is no doubt that Knight [...]
Great cost cutting – but show me the growth May 12, 2011 IAN Livingston is incredibly good at cost cutting, which is just as well. The no-nonsense Scot has removed some £2.8bn of costs in the last two years alone. That is exactly what the firm needed after former chief executive Ben Verwaayen, who won a huge amount of business at the expense of margins and profits. [...]