Ultimate Finance boost as lending curbed
While politicians struggle to find a way to reverse the decline in bank lending, Ultimate Finance seems to be doing very nicely filling market need. The company, which provides financial…
Antisoma returns to profit
Antisoma, a small UK company that formerly specialised in developing cancer therapies, returned to better health this week with results showing it was back in profit. The company announced pre-tax…
KCom hit by sales slowdown
Shares in KCom Group fell as much as 8 per cent on Friday after the telecoms group cautioned that a reluctance among its business customers to take up its fixed-line…
Overseas expansion cuts Ted Baker profits
Rising sales could not stem a decline in pre-tax profit at Ted Baker as the British fashion brand counted the cost of expansion. Pre-tax profit fell 8.4 per cent to…
Victoria rebel investors oust chairwoman
Rebel shareholders in Victoria, the UK maker of the red carpet at last year’s royal wedding, won their battle on Wednesday to oust chairwoman Katherine Innes Ker. More than two-thirds…
Start-ups scheme gains 2,000 requests
A government-backed pilot scheme offering small loans to get business ideas off the ground has received almost 2,000 applications in its first four months of operation. The Start-Up Loans Company…
Blur Group to join Aim after raising £4m
Blur Group, the business-to-business online procurement group backed by ITV chairman Archie Norman, will start trading as a publicly listed company on Friday after becoming one of London’s rare technology…
William Hill’s gamble may pay off
William Hill’s bold approach for Sportingbet may have been rejected on Monday but the move, which would bring with it Sportingbet’s businesses in Australia and Spain, has won plaudits in…
Four charged in £3m insider dealing case
Four people including a former Deutsche Bank senior corporate broker have been charged with a £3m alleged conspiracy to commit insider dealing in the first cases to result from the…
Asos appoints former Amazon executive
Asos has appointed a former Amazon executive as its new chairman, as Lord Waheed Alli steps down after more than a decade at the helm of the pioneering online fashion…
Small-caps: Hornby issues profit warning
Hornby’s gift to the small-cap market this week was a profit warning, which sent shares in the train set maker sliding 27.6 per cent. The group, whose brands include Scalextric…
Insurance probe shines light on murky practices
An investigation launched by the Competition Commission into the motor insurance industry on Friday will shine a light on murky business practices that regulators allege have ramped up drivers’ premiums.…
Remarkable school drives up performance
©NEWSTEAM Pupils studying in a maths lesson at St Alban’s Academy, Birmingham In a week’s time, the Conservative party will gather in Birmingham, where everything from exam reform to school…
Small-cap week: CVS debt deal pays off
Banks are happy to lend to small businesses, if the company in question is into pet health and is CVS, the expanding veterinary group. Simon Innes, CVS’s chief executive, said…
Small-cap week: Regenersis back in black
Shares in Regenersis were buoyed this week after the electronics repairs group said that a US cable TV company was rolling out its maintenance system following a successful trial. Aim-traded…