The Business Matrix: Friday 26 September 2014

Flotation plans on hold at RAC

The RAC put plans for a London stock market flotation on hold after securing investment from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Singapore is understood to have taken a near 50 per cent stake alongside the private equity group Carlyle, which bought the company from Aviva for £1bn in 2011. The RAC is valued at about $2bn.

Service pays off for Ryanair

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s new-found love of customer service paid off as the budget airline delivered a profits upgrade. After increasing baggage allowances, and bringing in seat allocations and website improvements, the airline expects full-year profits “towards the upper end” of its €620m (£484.1m)-€650m range.

Rain keeps the drinkers at home

Teeming rain in August knocked back pub sales at Mitchells & Butlers after the World Cup boost in July. The 1,600-strong pub chain said August had been a “difficult” month with consumers “cautious about spending”. Like-for-like sales in the last nine weeks were up just 0.1 per cent against 0.7 per cent in the first 42 weeks of the year.

BSkyB expands US gridiron coverage

BSkyB has signed a new, expanded five-year deal for live American football in the latest salvo in the television rights war with arch-rival BT. Britain’s biggest pay-TV firm will air over 80 live National Football League matches per season, including the important Monday night games for the first time and the Super Bowl.

Dollar hits a four-year high

The dollar hit a four-year high and oil hovered near a two-year low on Thursday, as investors wagered the United States will be one of the few economies healthy enough to wean itself off central bank aid in the near future. The UK is also seen as being among the most likely economies to improve and raise interest rates.

Rosneft may back out of Morgan deal

Rosneft, Russia’s biggest crude oil producer, may back out of a deal to buy Morgan Stanley’s oil trading unit because Western sanctions make it virtually impossible to finance day-to-day operations, sources said. They said the chance of the deal going through range from “possible” to “highly unlikely.”

Huawei invests $4bn in research

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, said it would invest more than $4bn in fixed broadband technology research and development in the next three years. Huawei has shifted its focus to the mobile device market in recent years.

Lending contracts for 28th month

Lending to eurozone households and companies contracted for the 28th month in a row in August, putting a keener spotlight on European Central Bank efforts to get credit flowing again. Banks are lending less as they adapt to tougher capital requirements.

Lloyds to sell £161m TSB stake

Lloyds Banking Group is to sell a further 11.5 percent stake in TSB, leaving it with a 50 per cent shareholding in a business it was ordered to sell by Euro- pean regulators. The stake is worth about £161m at current share prices.

Trujillo eyes Telecom Italian

Former Telstra and Orange chief executive Sol Trujillo is seeking to raise €7.5bn to buy a stake in Telecom Italia, Bloomberg reported. Sovereign-wealth funds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi have expressed an interest.