Saga nudges past issue price on its first day May 29, 2014 Over-50s insurance-to-holiday provider Saga yesterday joined a small band of newly floated firms trading above their issuance stock price, as it began trading in London. The group, which was listed on the stock market at 185p, rose to 188p during the day but ended up barely above its initial price, closing at 185.25p. Saga, which [...]
Advisers split with firms over recent UK floats May 27, 2014 SMALL and medium-sized listed firms are split with their advisers on whether the recent jump in flotation activity will be good for their ability to raise funds. A survey released today by the Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA) and BDO points to a major schism between firms and their advisers on the effect of recent flotations. [...]
Al Noor Hospitals on the rise April 28, 2014 Middle Eastern healthcare group Al Noor Hospitals yesterday reported a 25 per cent rise in revenues to $111.6m, reflecting the recent purchase of a cancer centre. Al Noor, which listed in London last June, said it hopes to hire up to 80 doctors this year, including the 32 on board as a result of the [...]
Top stockbroker hits out at “deplorable” lack of retail floats April 22, 2014 One of the biggest names in the retail stockbroking sector has today described the situation facing retail investors wanting to invest in newly-floated companies as "deplorable". Yet another company, The Card Factory, has announced it is coming to market via an issue of shares only initially available to institutional investors. Keith Loudon, the senior partner [...]
Trio of floats join the main London market April 16, 2014 A TRIO of newly-listed companies joined the main London market yesterday, having raised a total of over £700m in initial public offerings. Cambian, Exova and Polypipe, which began conditional trading last week, had their shares admitted to the premium listing segment of the London Stock Exchange yesterday. Cambian, which runs schools, hospitals and care homes, [...]
Stock stampede doubles amount of market floats April 2, 2014 STOCK market flotations around the world doubled last quarter, driven by a near record high in issuance across Europe despite a stall in M&A activity, fresh figures show. The boom in stock market issues means a $4.8bn (£2.9bn) windfall for investment banks around the world, due to fees rising by nearly a third compared to the [...]
Vodafone bags spectrum licences in India for £1.9bn February 14, 2014 Vodafone India has announced this morning that it’s secured mobile spectrum licences for £1.9bn. The mobile giant said its Indian business was awarded the licenses in 11 telecom circles, in the Indian government’s 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum auction. The deal will allow Vodafone India to roll out 4G services and boost 3G services in key [...]
Water companies say finances impervious to floods February 14, 2014 One thing that hasn't been soaked in the ongoing deluge – Severn Trent's finances. FTSE 100 utilities company has said this morning that the floods currently besetting Britain won’t be financially damaging to it: "We currently anticipate no material financial impact from the present floods." In a separate statement, Pennon Group, which owns South West Water, said [...]
Anglo American makes progress but still sees 7pc loss February 14, 2014 2013 was another year of loss for Anglo American as it saw underlying earnings fall seven per cent to $2.7bn (£1.6bn). Expectations had been for earnings to fall to $1.88bn. However, the earnings exclude $1.9bn of impairments from several of its platinum mines where South African workers are on strike. Cost-cutting and currency gains helped [...]
Male directors more likely to break rules February 13, 2014 More directors are being disqualified after their companies collapse, but the insolvency specialist Zolfo Cooper has warned that not enough execs are being banned for misconduct. The restructuring specialist said 235 directors were disqualified in the last three months of 2013, up from 181 in the previous quarter. 85 per cent of those banned were [...]