Buyout group 3i grows appetite for Yo! Sushi May 10, 2015 Suitors circling Japanese restaurant chain Yo! Sushi have entered a second round of bidding, with private equity firm 3i understood to be one of the frontrunners in the race. Yo! Sushi’s private equity owner Quilvest hired bankers at Canaccord Genuity last year to explore a sale of the business, with a price tag of around [...]
Sirius Minerals to raise $1bn for York Potash Project May 10, 2015 Aim-listed Sirius Minerals is set to go to the market looking to raise $1bn (£647m) in funding for its York Potash Project. A spokesman for the company told Morning Wire yesterday that the fundraising is dependent on the decision of the North York Moors National Park committee, which is expected to be announced on 30 [...]
Gatwick airport traffic levels soar again as report on expansion looms May 10, 2015 Passenger traffic at Gatwick airport rose for the 26th month in a row this April, with 3.2m passengers travelling through the airport last month. The busiest European route from Gatwick remained Barcelona, which saw traffic increase by 0.2 per cent from April 2014, totalling 113,200 passengers. The biggest growth came on the North Atlantic route [...]
China’s central bank cuts interest rates to 5.1 per cent amid slowing economy May 10, 2015 China's central bank has cut interest rates to 5.1 per cent, as the country's economy continues to slow down. It's the third cut in six months, and the hope is that is will boost development in the country. The change will come into effect on Monday. In 2014, growth rate was 7.4 per [...]
Tesco considers selling mobile phone business May 8, 2015 Tesco could soon shed its mobile phone business as part of chief executive Dave Lewis' scaling back process following a torrid 2014. The retailer makes around £100m a year from the business it co-owns with 02, whose network the service uses. It has around 250 Tesco Mobile shops across the country. Yet according to the [...]
General Election 2015: Shares, bonds and the pound all end higher after shock Tory win May 8, 2015 Shares, bonds and the pound all rallied today after the Tories swept to a shock win in the General Election, sparing investors from the inevitable uncertainty which would have come with a round of coalition negotiations. The FTSE 100 closed up by 2.2 per cent at 7,035 points this afternoon as the Tory party prepared [...]
UK house prices: Growth slows for the first time in 2015 May 8, 2015 UK house price growth has fallen on a three-month basis for the first time in 2015, according to Halifax. The figures For the three months to April 2015, house prices in the UK grew 2.2 per cent, lower than the last three months, when it was 2.6 per cent. On a monthly basis prices rose [...]
Rolls Royce hit with £350m forex blow May 8, 2015 Rolls-Royce expects to see its restructuring efforts bear fruit in the second half of the financial year, but expects a massive forex hit of £350m. The £350m is a translation effect: from translating revenues back into pounds to report results. This creates a year on year differences, depending on the behaviour of currencies during that [...]
BG Group pre-tax profit plunges 62 per cent on plummeting oil prices May 8, 2015 The figures BG Group said pre-tax profit plunged 62 per cent to $715m (£463m) in the first quarter, down from $1.9bn during the first quarter a year earlier. Total earnings were $233m, including a post-tax loss of $332m on disposals, re-measurements and impairments in the first quarter of 2015. This was down from $1.1bn and included a post-tax loss [...]
Fitbit files for $100m IPO May 7, 2015 Fitbit, the company behind the cult fitness traffic device, has filed for a $100m IPO. The company was vague on the details – it didn't disclose how much it intended to float for, or what its plans are for the proceeds. But the company's filing did show it sold 10.9m devices last year, with another [...]