Ad sales buoy Daily Mail firm July 27, 2010 Publisher Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) said yesterday its flagship newspaper business rebounded strongly after the advertising crisis. Underlying advertising revenues rebounded 13 per cent at its national newspaper division, led by the Daily Mail. Sales for the third quarter rose six per cent, also helped by subscriptions to its publications maintaining pace. Advertising [...]
Pace in £300m deal for 2Wire July 26, 2010 PACE, the world’s largest set-top box maker, has agreed to buy US broadband technology firm 2Wire for £306.6m to broaden its customer base beyond cable and satellite into the Internet TV market. The British company, which overtook to claim the top spot in May, said 2Wire had an established relationship with North American telecoms providers [...]
BSkyB results are expected to smash through analyst forecasts July 25, 2010 BSKYB is expected to smash the market consensus when it announces its results this week. A surge in demand for high definition (HD) services in the wake of the World Cup will drive the broadcasters profits higher than forecasts. Sky is understood to have netted an extra 320,000 new HD customers in the last three [...]
BSkyB results are expected to smash through analyst forecasts July 25, 2010 BSKYB is expected to smash the market consensus when it announces its results this week. A surge in demand for high definition (HD) services in the wake of the World Cup will drive the broadcasters profits higher than forecasts. Sky is understood to have netted an extra 320,000 new HD customers in the last three [...]
M&B sales hit by World Cup July 22, 2010 PUBS and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers said yesterday sales growth slowed in June and July as diners were lured away by the attraction of the World Cup. M&B, which has over 2,000 pubs and restaurants and whose brands include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, said the World Cup had a “negative impact” [...]
RBS gets trio of bids for WorldPay division July 20, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has received three second round bids for its £2.6bn payment processing business WorldPay. Three private equity vehicles tabled bids before the Monday deadline, according to sources close to the matter. As expected, Advent International and Bain have teamed up, while TPG has also bid and so has Clayton, Dubilier & [...]
Fight must go on for Five July 18, 2010 SOURCES close to pan-European broadcaster RTL Group yesterday poured cold water on speculation that newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond has sealed a deal to buy its beleaguered UK television channel Five, calling it “wishful thinking”. Desmond, the owner of Express newspapers and OK! magazine, was though to be on the brink of clinching an agreement to [...]
SUMMER’S SET TO SIZZLE AS CITY’S GOT TALENT MAKES A COMEBACK July 18, 2010 IT’S SUMMERTIME, and if you’re looking for a ray of sunshine to penetrate the daily grind of City life, look no further. Regular readers of this column will remember last year, when The Capitalist whipped the financial world into a frenzy with a rundown of the top ten hunkiest gentlemen and loveliest ladies the City [...]
Penthouse publisher hires adviser to pursue Playboy July 15, 2010 FriendFinder Networks, the owner of adult magazine Penthouse, has hired a financial adviser as it prepares to counter Hugh Hefner’s bid to buy Playboy Enterprises. FriendFinder, an internet-based social networking and multimedia entertainment firm, yesterday said it has retained Imperial Capital. On Monday FriendFinder said that Hefner’s offer of $5.50 in cash for each of [...]
The rising star of online retail July 15, 2010 YOU’VE just given birth and one of the first things your husband asks you to do is to sign a cheque for your new boutique (Powder, based in Crouch End. ) That was Sarah Curran’s experience of the first hours of motherhood to son Jake, now seven-years old. It is no surprise that Curran says [...]