Lingfield College Business

Masses of stuff in here - the company in question had Apple as its only customer, and earlier this year Apple decided to manufacture its own components, causing the company to nearly collapse. This is the result: Telegraph     Business Beijing-backed fund to buy Imagination Technologies in £550m deal 7   Hannah Boland   22 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 11:11PM C hinese-backed fund Canyon Bridge has swooped on Imagination Technologies in £550m deal which looks set to test Theresa May's pledge to intervene in foreign takeovers. Late on Friday, Imagination said it had agreed to a takeover by Canyon Bridge, which, although based in Silicon Valley, is funded by authorities in Beijing. Canyon's interest in Imagination, which is based in Hertfordshire,  was first reported by The Daily Telegraph in July .  Its offer price, of 182p per share, is 42pc higher than Imagination's closing price on Friday...

John Lewis and Habitat withdraw granite worktops over slavery concerns Supply chains of high street retailers under scrutiny after investigators uncover evidence of human rights violations and child labour in Indian stone quarries Sunday 3 September 2017  John Lewis  and Habitat have pulled a range of granite worktops from sale over concerns their supply chains may be tainted with slavery and child labour. Many other high-street businesses selling granite products such as kitchen worktops, tiles and tombstones are also likely to scrutinise their supply chains after investigators discovered that debt bondage, underage workers and unsafe, unhealthy working conditions are part and parcel of daily working life in Indian quarries.  India is the largest global producer of granite, accounting for  49% of the world’s raw stone export  in 2015. Three-quarters of the country’s granite is mined in just three states – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karna...

DOMINIC LAWSON january 21 2018, 12:01am,  the sunday times Virtue, Carillion could do. Profit, not so much dominic lawson The firm was big on social responsibility, but forgot what a business is for Share Save The speed with which politicians are distancing themselves from the bankrupt construction firm Carillion might impress Usain Bolt. Ministers are even hinting at the possibility of criminal behaviour on the part of the board (without any evidence that I can discern). For Jeremy Corbyn, it is enough of a crime that Carillion was the biggest contractor for projects that government “outsourced” to the commercial world. This meshes conveniently with the Labour leader’s Marxist article of faith that the state should buy stuff only from itself and never from the wicked profiteers of the private sector. It’s a mystery how Corbyn thinks the NHS will meet the medical needs of the public without drugs developed and sold by pharmaceutical companies, but he wil...

Daily Telegraph January 13 Raising the bar: Big Chocolate bites back in the battle for Nestlé’s US business The Ferrero Group is going head to head with the Hershey Company for Nestlé’s US business   David Millward   13 JANUARY 2018 • 5:12PM With sugar declared public health enemy number one and chocolate sales flat, the ferocity of the battle to snap up Nestlé’s US business may come as a surprise. Two industry heavyweights have leapt into the fray. The Ferrero Group, the world’s third largest confectionery producer, is going head to head with the Hershey Company, ranked number six. According to reports in the US, a couple of private equity firms are also sniffing around the business, although the chocolate behemoths are still front-runners to prevail when the result is declared over the next week or so. The three major players have remained low-key about the negotiations, all declining to comment publicly. However, reports in Ita...

This is time limited people, so listen to it this weekend. Send an email to me, copying in Mr Hagan & Mr Dewey with comments once you have listened to it, please. BBC podcast on FDI into the UK

RICHARD REED: ANIMAL SPIRITS There is only one winner when start-ups advertise on Facebook Richard Reed September 3 2017, 12:01am,  The Sunday Times One hell of an ad sales guy: Mark Zuckerberg I think about Mark Zuckerberg every single day. Not in a bromance sort of way. Although anyone who makes billions while wearing a hoodie to work is my kind of guy. No, it is more because every day at Jam Jar, our angel investing fund that backs UK entrepreneurs, we sit through pitch after pitch, for every conceivable type of start-up, from dog food to posh watches, and everyone — and I do mean literally everyone — is selling their equity and raising millions and millions of pounds seemingly for one reason — to pay for ads on Facebook. It is a phenomenon so consistent across the companies we see, the money being raised is so big and the faith in the strategy so absolute, that at the end of every pitch, we are always left with the same conclusion: we should just buy share...

China Drives Record Venture Capital Dealmaking In Asia By Preqin on August 30, 2017 9:10 pm in Business 2017 sees largest ever venture capital deal announced, but fundraising and exit activity fail to match pace The boom in venture capital activity in Asia reached new heights in Q2 2017: the quarter saw a record $47bn in deals announced, including the $5.5bn financing of Didi Chuxing, which became the largest venture capital deal ever. In 2017 so far, Asia represents almost half of global venture capital deal value, the largest proportion of any region. However, fundraising and exit activity is not showing the same level of growth: Asia-focused venture capital fundraising peaked at $11bn in Q3 2014, but since then has trended downward, and in Q1 2017 venture capital funds secured just $1.8bn for the region. At the same time, exit activity for Asian ventur...