Exclusive: eDreams considers legal action after Iberia’s flip-flop October 27, 2014 Europe’s largest flight comparison firm, eDreams Odigeo, is mulling legal action after its shares tanked nearly 60 per cent on Friday when Iberia and British Airways (BA) pulled tickets from three of its websites. Iberia and BA, both part of the International Airlines Group, added their fares back to two of the three websites on [...]
Advisers back in the spotlight after eDreams’ shares fall 91pc since float October 27, 2014 THE STEEP underperformance of shares in eDreams, which were suspended at the end of last week, has shone a critical light on the advice of STJ Advisors – the firm set up by former Nomura banker John St John in 2008. STJ has had a busy year advising on deals in the European equity capital [...]
Rankings show Posh Spice is top UK entrepreneur October 27, 2014 Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has been named the UK’s top entrepreneur, beating Boohoo.com’s Mahmud Kamani, AO World’s John Roberts and Dyson founder Sir James Dyson, to the top spot. Beckham’s own-brand fashion house has seen its revenues soar 2,900 per cent over the last five years to £30m last year, putting it at the [...]
Office owner Silverfleet brings in advisers to explore £300m sale or a float October 26, 2014 Silverfleet, the private equity firm which owns high street shoe retailer Office, has brought in advisers to explore the sale or float of the company. Office was bought by Silverfleet for £150m in 2010 from Scottish billionaire Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital, but could now be worth as much as £300m, according to the [...]
Top Right Group eyes up £100m events takeover October 26, 2014 EVENTS and digital publishing firm Top Right Group, jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners, has entered talks to buy US conference organiser Money20/20. Talks are believed to centre on plans to merge Money20/20 with Top Right’s events division i2i Events. A possible deal to buy Money20/20, first reported in the Sunday Times, [...]
Hotel price comparison startup Lodgeo eyes £10m fundraise after launch October 26, 2014 Lodgeo, the recently launched price comparison mobile app for hotel rooms, is preparing to raise up to £10m through a funding round advised by Catalyst Corporate Finance. The app was launched last month with £2m in funding from Javest Investment fund, the Amsterdam venture capital fund, and a number of named individual investors. Lodgeo’s founder [...]
UK smartphone sector saturated says Samsung October 23, 2014 Samsung’s UK president says a recent slowdown in smartphone sales is a sign that the market is saturated, and believes now is the time for the South Korean giant to double down on quality to continue its growth in a mature market. The comments come ahead of a forecasted 60 per cent fall in quarterly [...]
Publicis grows its digital slice but growth slowed by Omnicom deal October 23, 2014 FRENCH communications giant Publicis Groupe missed expectations for organic growth in its third quarter results yesterday, yet claimed the fact that 42 per cent of its overall revenue came from digital operations was a testament to its “vitality”. Overall sales growth stood at one per cent for the quarter. In response, Publicis adjusted its full [...]
Premier Foods’ share price tanks as Aldi, Lidl and online shopping weigh on manufacturer October 23, 2014 Food manufacturer Premier Foods reported lower third-quarter sales yesterday, hit by consumers turning to online shopping or discount chains that stock their own brands for groceries. Shares tanked 14.6 per cent on the disappointing results yesterday to close down at 29.25p. “Market conditions in the third quarter have proved to be increasingly demanding with unprecedented [...]
Reed Elsevier to enter China’s car insurance industry in joint venture October 23, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest media group Reed Elsevier yesterday said a four per cent rise in underlying revenue in the first nine months kept it on track to meet its goal of growing revenue and profit this year. Reed also announced a new joint venture between its LexisNexis Risk Solutions business and Jing You, the largest supplier [...]