Nick Clegg’s ambition to lift the poor from tax is a lesson for Tories over low pay September 16, 2013 WHAT makes a popular policy that can capture the public imagination? Policy, like politics, is best when it provides a noble purpose. A fight against injustice. A sense of direction. Ideas brutally simple to understand. Take Margaret Thatcher’s “Right to Buy”. A noble purpose? Allowing council tenants to own their homes. A fight against injustice? [...]
Quercus puts itself up for sale as losses mount January 22, 2014 QUERCUS, the independent publisher behind Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, yesterday unexpectedly announced that it is up for sale. In a surprise stock market announcement, the Baker Street-based firm said that it had appointed mergers and acquisitions specialists Livingstone Partners to advise on the sale process. The firm said it believed it was “in the [...]
What you need to know before the open – 17/01 January 17, 2014 European markets are set to move higher today after marginal gains in US equity futures and Asian stocks. We've got UK retail sales for December this morning, which'll reveal more about shopping over Christmas. And in Asia, the Nikkei dropped in trading today, after US corporate earnings damaged investor sentiment. ETX Capital #MorningCall FTSE [...]
Sofa.com put on the block after jump in revenue December 17, 2013 HOME furnishings group Sofa.com has brought in advisers to help with a potential sale of the business, it confirmed yesterday, after reporting a 35 per cent surge in full-year sales. The armchair and sofa retailer’s founders Rohan Blacker and Pat Reeves have called in financial advisory firm Altium to explore their options, which could include [...]
Pressure on Wm Morrison rises on buyout talks February 12, 2014 SIR KEN Morrison said yesterday that he had no knowledge of any talks between his family’s trusts and private equity firms to take Morrisons private. According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, the Morrison family has approached several private equity firms including Apax, Carlyle Group and CVC Capital with the view of taking Britain’s fourth largest [...]
CNBC Comment: Volatile markets threaten the IPO revival February 10, 2014 THE SELL-DOWN in emerging market assets has seen investors withdraw money at speed. And it may not be over yet. As Nomura analysts have pointed out, just because the selling has been vicious, it doesn’t mean it’s a crowded trade. But stepping away from the herd is private equity. Last year, these cash-hoarders scoured the [...]
Sofa.com put on the block after jump in revenue December 16, 2013 HOME furnishings group Sofa.com has brought in advisers to help with a potential sale of the business, it confirmed yesterday, after reporting a 35 per cent surge in full-year sales. The armchair and sofa retailer’s founders Rohan Blacker and Pat Reeves have called in financial advisory firm Altium to explore their options, which could include [...]
What you need to know before the open February 26, 2014 Markets are set to open mixed this morning ahead of UK GDP data, and with China fears pulling down metal prices. US markets finished a touch lower yesterday, but have weathered well the string of unimpressive data the country’s seen. Over in Asia, the Nikkei came down from a 4-week high, tainted by US data, [...]
Letters to the Editor – 09/01 – Buy British, Land sale, Best of Twitter January 8, 2014 Buy British [Re: Is the environment secretary right that UK consumers should buy more British food?, yesterday] So John Allan supports the UK sticking to domestically-produced food and also expects other countries to open up to UK producers? He really hasn’t thought that through at all. The government manipulates our spending and consumption with taxation [...]
Pets at Home to offer public bite at £1.5bn float February 19, 2014 PETS at Home, the UK’s biggest pet store, yesterday announced plans to offer shares to the animal-loving British public as part of its stock market debut next month. The company, which has 369 stores across the UK, said it intends to raise £275m through the initial share offering and use the proceeds to slash its [...]