Private equity rivals approach RAC owner about buyout deal July 9, 2014 Motor insurer RAC’s owner has held early talks with private equity houses to explore a sale of the group as an alternative to listing on the stock market. Carlyle Group, which took control of RAC in 2011, is understood to have been approached informally by buyout shops ranging from Apax to BC Partners about buying [...]
Don’t be gloomy – but there are still risks to the strong UK recovery July 27, 2014 Friday’s GDP data took us past a very symbolic landmark. The level of output in the UK is now slightly above its pre-recession peak. However, we should bear in mind that the UK population has risen by more than 4 per cent since early 2008. Average income per person is therefore still some way below [...]
Galliford Try to deliver record full-year profits July 9, 2014 GALLIFORD Try is set to report a record full-year profit driven by its housebuilding arm, which continues to benefit from the strengthening UK housing market. The FTSE 250 group said yesterday that pre-tax profits are likely to be at the upper end of analysts’ range of £92.8m to £95.2m when it reports in September. That [...]
Rightmove chairman sells £7m of shares and eyes a new home May 27, 2014 THE AVERAGE price of a home in South Kensington now stands at £2m, according to Britain’s largest property website Rightmove. However, chairman Scott Forbes looks to be eyeing a slightly pricier property after it emerged yesterday that he has sold around £7m of shares to help buy a new home in the prime London neighbourhood. [...]
Tesco seals deal to sell House of Fraser products June 2, 2014 TESCO has struck a deal with House of Fraser to sell the department store’s products on its website, the supermarket giant said yesterday, as it seeks to stem its declining sales. After trialling the offer earlier this month, Tesco said House of Fraser has agreed to sell 2,000 products from homeware brands including Linea and [...]
US home sales beat expectations with 6.4pc rise May 23, 2014 The number of houses sold in the US grew 6.4 per cent, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 in April. The surge in sales came primarily from the Midwest. The figures put an end to two straight months of declines, while the number of houses on the market climbed to a three-and-a-half year [...]
The art of theft: Why do thieves steal famous paintings when they’re so hard to sell? October 28, 2014 On a freezing Stockholm evening just before Christmas 2000, a group of six to eight Middle Eastern men put into action a plan they’d been working on for months. The group parked cars in the middle of the three central roads leading to the Swedish National Museum and set them ablaze. As fire engines [...]
Asian buyers fall out of love with Prada products June 5, 2014 ITALIAN luxury fashion house Prada announced yesterday that its first quarter sales fell amid a spending slowdown by Chinese tourists in Europe, coupled with unstable exchange rates. The brand said that net income for the three-month period ending 31 April fell 24 per cent to €105.3m (£85.5m), missing analysts’ estimates of €129.7m. The high-end fashion [...]
Jackets and swim trunks propel Pentland near £2bn in revenues June 23, 2014 HIGHER international sales of Speedo swimwear and Berghaus jackets helped leisure group Pentland boost revenues by 10 per cent last year to £1.9bn, according to annual results. The group, which owns a variety of iconic UK fashion brands like Boxfresh, Mitre and Ellesse and licenses for footwear by Kickers, Lacoste and Ted Baker, reported a [...]
M&M Direct sold for £140m after listing snubbed June 16, 2014 BUDGET online sports retailer M&M Direct is set to be sold for up to £140m – reversing plans for a stock market listing in London. The company, founded as a catalogue retailer in 1997, has clinched a deal to be acquired by Danish clothing outfit Bestseller. The firm’s current backer, private equity firm TA Associates, [...]