Sports Direct may sell famous brands in bid to become more upmarket January 8, 2017 Sports Direct is looking into selling several of its brands as part of its bid to become the “Selfridges of Sports”. Founder Mike Ashley’s mission to turn the company’s standing around and to make Sports Direct more upmarket has reportedly progressed to ditching brands no longer deemed relevant to the UK market. According to sources, [...]
Sports Direct sells Dunlop brand to Japanese buyer for £112m as it refocuses on becoming “Selfridges of sports” December 27, 2016 Sports Direct is selling the Dunlop brand for $137.5m (£112.3m) to Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) as part of its bid to become "the Selfridges of sports retail". The high street chain is re-focusing on developing its relationship with third party brands and its core UK business and has agreed to sell Dunlop's sporting goods and licensing businesses [...]
Bentley Mulsanne Speed review: This rolling fortress is like a luxury flat on wheels March 13, 2017 There’s an old saying that Bentleys were made to be driven and Rolls-Royces were made to be driven in. That hasn’t really been the case since Bentley was taken over by Volkswagen Group and Rolls-Royce by BMW – you can now buy wafty Bentleys and sporting Rolls-Royces – but even so, you’d expect a Bentley [...]
Long Weekend: Check into Marbella Club, a golf hotel in Malaga with an aristocratic pedigree February 20, 2017 The weekend: Marbs, as certain raffish reality TV characters call it, occupies a prime location by the Med on southern Spain’s Sunshine Coast. Behind this famous tourist town rises the jagged Sierra Blanca mountain range. You can shop, swim, hike, or mountain-bike, but most visitors are here to play a round with their balls. Thanks [...]
Happiest place on earth no more: Shareholders in Euro Disney battle with Walt Disney over licensing fees December 11, 2016 Walt Disney has charged Euro Disney nearly €1bn in licensing fees over the past decade, and minority shareholders have had enough, saying the American entertainment giant is preventing the owner of Disneyland Paris from making a profit. Reports show Charity Investment Asset Management (CIAM), a French hedge fund, said Walt Disney scooped €930m (£780m) in royalties allowing Euro Disney [...]
Royal Dutch Shell offloads Australian aviation fuel business in £200m deal with Viva Energy December 19, 2016 Royal Dutch Shell has signed an agreement to sell its Australian aviation business to Viva Energy for around $250m (£200m). Viva Energy, which is controlled by European energy trader Vitol Holdings, bought Shell's other downstream activities in Australia in 2014 and sells Shell-branded fuels and lubricants. The company will "continue to supply aviation customers with [...]
Spotify, one of Europe’s top tech startups, could become profitable as early as next year December 1, 2016 Spotify, one of Europe's most valuable tech startups, could start being profitable as early as next year, a board member who was one of the music streaming service's first investors told Reuters. Despite being the global leader of the music streaming industry, Spotify has reported steep losses since its creation in 2008 by Swedish founders Daniel Ek and Martin [...]
Rapha co-founder and chief executive Simon Mottram on why the cycling company split from Team Sky April 4, 2017 Four years ago niche cycling sportswear firm Rapha beat German behemoth Adidas to supply the kit to the world’s best known cycling club, Team Sky. At the time, Simon Mottram, its chief executive and co-founder, felt this was the just the platform the retailer needed to take things up a gear. “We sold a lot [...]
Saudi Aramco is valued at $2tn. A new report suggests that is 500 per cent too high February 28, 2017 The world’s most valuable oil company, Saudi Aramco, is approaching its first IPO in 2018, as the government of Saudi Arabia prepares to sell off portions of the company in order fill a sovereign wealth fund crucial to the country’s transition away from an oil-based economy. Saudi Aramco is worth $2tn, according to Riyadh, and [...]
As May pushes cash payouts for households, would sharing the proceeds of shale turbocharge the dash for gas? August 8, 2016 Michael Hulme, head of commodities at Carmignac, says Yes. Sharing the proceeds of shale with individual households as well as local councils will help kick-start the process, yes. The driver of shale development in the US was the existence of mineral rights – simply put, the ownership of what lies under the ground by the owner [...]