Discounters Aldi and Lidl pick up the space race left by Big Four supermarkets November 15, 2015 The big four supermarkets may have called an end to the space race. But for Aldi and Lidl the race has just begun, after new figures show the discounters have submitted plans for nearly five times as many stores. The latest data from construction data firm ABI Barbour shows that Aldi has submitted 93 planning [...]
US investment giants Starwood Capital and Apollo vie for control of budget hotelier Travelodge November 15, 2015 A battle is heating up for control of Travelodge after two US investment giants emerged as the frontrunners to buy the budget hotel chain, which is expected to fetch as much as £1.5bn. Property investor Starwood Capital and Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm, are said to be battling it out for control of the company, [...]
City Moves for 16 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 15, 2015 COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL The commercial real estate services firm has appointed business rates specialist Jeff Norris as director. He has over 30 years’ experience, and has held roles at Sinclair Goldsmith, Edwin Hill (now Altus), and Farebrother, where he was a partner heading up the rating department, before running his own consultancy. OPEN OCEAN The early [...]
Time limit on financial charges could save ex-HBOS bankers millions November 15, 2015 A long-awaited report into the collapse of HBOS is not expected to bring financial sanctions against any of those involved, due to a six-year time limit on the regulator bringing charges on information received. The delayed report, due Thursday, is set to criticise the management and regulators responsible for the bank’s taxpayer bailout in 2008. HBOS [...]
New doubts for future of Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, as European chief warns the site must be sold by April November 15, 2015 Tata Steel’s European chief executive Karl-Ulrich Kohler has warned that its Scunthorpe steel plant must be sold by April as it has no future as part of the company’s business. The company has been seeking a buyer for the plant as part of a wider sale of its long products business, which manufactures items like [...]
Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters buys another £1m in bank’s shares November 15, 2015 Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters is putting his money where his mouth is – by buying another £1m worth of his shares in his struggling company. Winters, a former JP Morgan investment banker who took over from the Asia-facing bank's previous chief executive Peter Sands in June, acquired 168,000 shares at 599 pence each, increasing the [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 index suffers worst week since August on mining companies November 13, 2015 The FTSE 100 endured its worst week since August, closing 1.03 per cent down on Friday at 6,115 points, dragged down today by G4S and Rolls-Royce. The UK's top blue-chip index closed at its lowest point since 2 October, six weeks ago. Rolls-Royce continued on from sharp falls yesterday, dropping 4.19 per cent to 514.5p per share, after falling [...]
Amazon launches Pantry as it seeks a bigger slice of UK grocery market November 13, 2015 A week after it launched its first physical bookshop, Amazon is taking its retro approach further with the opening of its 'Pantry' service in the UK tomorrow. In a bid to take home a bigger slice of the £177.5bn UK grocery market, Pantry will offer Amazon Prime customers next-day delivery on over 4,000 "everyday essentials", including major food and drink brands, household supplies, child [...]
Fossil to acquire wearable tech maker Misfit for $260m November 13, 2015 Watchmaker Fossil yesterday agreed to buy wearable tech company Misfit for $260m as it expands into the smartwatch and wearables space. Fossil will continue to produce Misfit health trackers, while incorporating Misfit's technology into its watches. Fossil says the acquisition will allow it to "scale Misfit's technology across Fossil" while giving Misfit new distribution channels and boosting its R&D. Misfit, best known for [...]
Auto Trader share price rises to all-time high after first dividend announced November 13, 2015 Shares in Auto Trader leapt to an all-time high this morning after the company announced its first dividend payment. The online car marketplace announced it will pay a maiden dividend of 0.5p in January 2016 after driving half-year profits to over four times those made during the same period in 2014. The UK's biggest car classifieds website revved pre-tax profits up to £74.7m [...]