Martin Wheatley undermined China effort – Editor’s Letter October 8, 2014 As the advisers to the Jimmy Choo flotation announce they have enough support to proceed, there is much to be delighted with in the way the new issues market has gone this year. Up to the August break and then pausing until the uncertainty over the Scottish referendum lifted, there has been a constant stream [...]
Mike Ashley moves to oust Rangers chief Graham Wallace after taking £4.3m stake October 8, 2014 Retail tycoon Mike Ashley has bought five per cent of Scottish football club Glasgow Rangers as part of a move to oust the chief executive and a director from the board. Ashley, who owns Newcastle United and has made a series of investments in recent weeks including buying shares in Tesco and Debenhams, took the [...]
George Osborne’s changed his unhealthy ways but most MPs indulge a tad too much October 6, 2014 They're in the public eye, up to their knees in advisers and not wanting for pocket money to spend in Holland & Barrett, but Britain’s MPs are an unhealthy bunch according to Nuffield Health. A poll of 100 MPs found almost half failed to meet the government’s recommended two-and-a-half hours of moderate activity a [...]
Facebook’s long-awaited WhatsApp deal completes – costing Zuckerberg another $3bn October 6, 2014 Facebook's share price opened broadly flat today after its long-awaited deal to take over WhatsApp completed. But the deal has ended up costing Facebook nearly $3bn more than was originally intended, because of the amount of time taken to get approval. The deal – in which WhatsApp shareholders received 177.7m Facebook Class A shares and [...]
Why Elon Musk is the world’s greatest chief exec October 3, 2014 Aside from having a name that sounds like an elongated cologne, Elon Musk is a true innovator. Having co-founded PayPal in 1999 before selling it to eBay for $180m, Musk went on to launch Tesla, a company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars. Founded in 2003 by a bunch of engineers who wanted to [...]
Bill Gates: Bitcoin is better than currency October 3, 2014 Bitcoin bugs will be pleased to hear that the world's richest man has had some kind words for the most popular cryptocurrency. In an interview with Bloomberg, Bill Gates said: Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don't have to be physically in the same place, and of course for large transactions currency can [...]
UK supermarkets vs German discounters: Morrisons gets tough as Buffett attacks Tesco October 2, 2014 Britain’s embattled supermarkets have finally begun their fight back against German discounters Aldi and Lidl who have been eating their lunch in recent months with double-digit growth in the sector. Morrison, the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, will launch its first customer loyalty card today, along with a price-matching scheme that its chief executive has labelled [...]
Draghi’s lack of stimulus targets fails to impress October 2, 2014 THE EURO jumped in value against the dollar yesterday as European officials failed to specify the size of their asset purchases, disappointing investors hoping for a substantial programme to try to stimulate the economy. The European Central Bank (ECB) said its plan to purchase private debt would begin over the next three months and would [...]
Mark Carney wants power to limit your mortgage if house price boom threatens banks October 2, 2014 The Bank of England wants major new powers to cap mortgage loans, yesterday arguing it may need to rein in the housing market if the price boom starts to endanger banks. Officials want the ability to cap the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of mortgages, as well as the debt to income ratios of some borrowers. The demands [...]
FTSE slumps to 2014 low after Draghi fails to light up markets – London Report October 2, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index yesterday slid to its lowest closing level so far this year on disappointment with the European Central Bank’s latest stimulus measures. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended down by 1.7 per cent, or 111.13 points, at 6,446.39 points – its lowest closing level since ending at 6,439.96 points in December 2013, [...]