Osmond eyes up bid for Kwik-Fit

By
Mark Foxwell
Last updated at 10:16 PM on 1st May 2010

Kwik-Fit has put its £200 million insurance arm up for sale as it emerged that acquisitive tycoon Hugh Osmond is considering making an offer for the car repair firm. Advisers to the group are circulating details of the Kwik-Fit Financial Services business, which includes home, motor, pet and travel insurance and employs more than a thousand staff. Meanwhile, Osmond, who was behind Pizza-Express and founded Punch Taverns, has added Kwik-Fit, owned by French private equity firm PAI Partners, to his list of targets. Last month his listed investment vehicle Horizon Acquisition tabled a £350 million bid for housebuilder Crest Nicholson.

Due for a change: The heavily indebted Kwik-Fit chain is being eyed by serial entrepreneur Hugh Osmond

An insider said: ‘We looked at Kwik-Fit a while back. It’s an interesting company and we are looking at it again.’

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Click and collect: Amazon to up competition by moving into the high street

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:19 PM on 07th December 2009

The new service will mean customers no longer have to wait on deliveries, and instead will be able to pick up their orders at times which suit them. Pictured here is the Amazon Distribution Centre, Bedfordshire
Online retail giant Amazon is set to compete with established names like Argos and John Lewis by offering high street collection points for customers. The group is understood to be hunting for high-profile sites across the UK to set up a network of stores allowing customers to buy online and pick up goods in-store. The proposed ‘click and collect’ service comes as a wave of cut-price retail outlets are coming onto the market after the collapse of major chains such as book shop Borders. It is thought that Amazon – the world’s biggest online retailer – is keen to tap into the growing trend for consumers to forgo waiting for deliveries and pick-up at a time that suits them. Postal services are increasingly being seen as the Achilles heel of online stores, particularly highlighted with the recent Royal Mail postal strikes.John Lewis currently operates a free next day collection service on items ordered online and Argos has a reservation policy which also allows items to be picked up in store. Amazon’s move to branch out from just selling small items such as CDs and books - which can fit in many post boxes - to larger items is also said to have made the need for an alternative collection service more pressing.But some of the sites may reportedly have to be out of town due to concerns over parking.Amazon has so far defied the economic slump that has hit many of its high street rivals.It posted a 33 per cent rise in sales at its UK and international arm in the three months to September.

The sales growth in the international division outstripped the performance for the wider Amazon business, which grew revenues by 28 per cent to $5.45 billion (£3.31 billion) in the quarter.An Amazon spokesman said: “We have no plans to open physical stores anywhere in the world.”

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Fears of second economic slump delay expansion plans at Britain’s biggest bank

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:55 AM on 05th October 2009

One of the world’s biggest banks will delay expansion plans because of concerns there will be a second global economic downturn.HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan said he was cautious about ‘growing too fast’ before the recovery had fully taken hold.Mr Geoghegan said he was not as convinced as others that the worst is over and warned that the economy could encounter a second slump before improving.

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Asian stock markets gain as China wobbles ease oil jumps

AP

Published: 7:37AM BST 20 Aug 2009

The 20pc drop in the Shanghai benchmark since August 4 sent ripples of fear
through world markets this week as investors fretted the government might
tighten credit that has helped fuel a massive rally in Chinese stocks since
March.

Some of those fears dissipated on Thursday with an unexpected fall in US crude
inventories raising hopes of recovery from recession and solid gains in
Chinese stocks.

The Shanghai index was up 58.47 points, or 2.1pc, to 2,844.05, while Japan’s
Nikkei 225 stock average advanced 156.82 points, or 1.5pc, at 10,360.82.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 382.13, or 1.9pc to 20,336.36.

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Economic slump far from over warns Bank of England

By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor

Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Aug 2009

In an unexpected announcement, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it
would pump an additional £50 billion of newly created money into the
economy, suggesting that to do otherwise would endanger Britain’s “fragile”
financial recovery.

With interest rates at an unprecedented low of 0.5 per cent, the Bank had been
widely expected to freeze its quantitative easing programme.

But in a decision that shocked the City, it instead extended the programme
from the existing £125 billion, beyond its initial Treasury-agreed ceiling
of £150 billion, to a total of £175 billion.

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Bank rate-setter in Honours List

The Bank of England official who predicted the recession has been made a CBE in the Birthday Honours list.

David Blanchflower, who has recently retired from the Bank‘s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said he was "very pleased" with the award.

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Call for new £20bn economy boost

A prominent group of Labour members is urging the government to spend an extra £20bn to stimulate the economy through measures to boost the housing market.

Progress is calling for a freeze on stamp duty on houses valued under £1m for the rest of 2009 and the offer of a £1,000 tax credit to home buyers. Read more

Cisco’s profits fall by a quarter

Computer firm Cisco Systems has seen its quarterly profits fall by 27%, as its sales have declined in the face of the global economic slump.

For the three months to 24 January, Cisco made a net profit of $1.5bn (£1bn), compared with $2.1bn for the same period a year earlier. Read more

Sony and Nintendo results awaited

By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Tokyo

Sony and Nintendo are to release their third-quarter results, giving an indication of how badly Japan has been hit by the global economic slump.

Japanese firms have dominated the electronics business for decades, but are now suffering. Read more

Nikkei index hits two-month high

Japan’s stock market has ended its first session of 2009 up 2.1% and at its highest level for nearly two months, buoyed by new year hopes.

Honda Motor Co and other exporters climbed on a weaker yen while resource-linked firms such as trading houses surged as oil jumped more than 3%. Read more

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