PIMCO’S GROSS ISSUES WARNING OVER A BRAZEN PONZI SCHEME: QE October 27, 2010 PIMCO’S resident bond expert Bill Gross yesterday, in his usual verbose fashion, issued a stark warning over the upcoming second round of quantitative easing (QE) in the US – dubbing it no less than a “Ponzi scheme” on the part of the Federal Reserve. “Check [sic] writing in the trillions is not a bondholder’s friend; [...]
Ocado to expand delivery area in England and Wales October 24, 2010 RECENTLY-listed online grocery firm Ocado is set to begin delivering to homes in south-west England and south Wales from March, adding 1.5m extra households to its delivery capacity. The company has bought a distribution centre near Bristol to facilitate the expansion, which will create 100 new jobs in the area. The move comes after Ocado [...]
Laing to float fund on LSE to raise £270m October 14, 2010 Infrastructure group John Laing yesterday unveiled plans to list an infrastructure fund in London raising up to £270m. Laing, owned by asset manager Henderson Group, will sell up to £256m of infrastructure schemes to the newly formed John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), in a move flagged up earlier this month. The fund will use the [...]
Ocado still overvalued, says analyst October 14, 2010 OCADO’S stock fell another 3.5p yesterday to 123.5p, despite its announcement this week that it has begun work on its new warehouse in Warwickshire. It is now trading 46 per cent below the mid-point of its initial IPO price range. But yesterday another analyst released a note warning the stock could still have a long [...]
Ocado to build new £210m warehouse October 12, 2010 OCADO yesterday announced it will build its second warehouse in North Warwickshire at a total cost of £210m. The firm says the new distribution hub for its online grocery delivery business will be operational by 2012. Ocado says the facility, which will create up to 2,000 jobs in the area, will allow it to expand [...]
Ocado October 12, 2010 OCADO will hope the start of work on its new warehouse (or Customer Fulfilment Centre to use its irritating official title) will begin a new chapter after a torrid few months for its share price. Since its climbdown on the massively optimistic flotation price range of 200-275p (it eventually achieved just 180p), its stock has [...]
Betfair investors agree IPO range of up to £14 per share October 6, 2010 BETFAIR will announce its plan to float on the Stock Exchange today after a meeting of the company’s 700 shareholders voted in favour of an initial public offering (IPO) at a meeting last night. City A.M. understands the price range will be between £11 and £14 per share, valuing the company at between £1.16bn and [...]
Betfair founders hit jackpot with float September 21, 2010 BETFAIR yesterday announced a stock market listing that is expected to value it at up to £1.5bn, braving an IPO market that sorely bruised Ocado earlier this summer. If successful, the internet betting firm, which has seen a meteoric rise since it was launched a decade ago, would have a higher valuation than gambling stalwarts [...]
John Lewis in recovery as its profit rises September 16, 2010 JOHN Lewis warned yesterday that trading conditions were likely to get tougher as tax hikes and public spending cuts hit shoppers, even as it reported a 28 per cent rise in first-half profit. The group, owned by its 70,000 staff, said its strong first-half performance gave it confidence that both its department stores and grocery [...]
Phoenix rises from ashes to the FTSE 250 September 8, 2010 SERIAL entrepreneur Hugh?Osmond has seen his Phoenix Group life insurance consolidation vehicle promoted to the FTSE 250. Phoenix said its £1.2bn market value would make it one of the larger players in the index. In a quarterly rejig, Home Retail Group, Segro and Cable & Wireless Worldwide will drop out of Britain’s FTSE 100 later [...]