Business briefs: Disappointment for thetrainline.com | Amazon ready for London operation | ‘All in it together’ claims CBI

Published on 23/07/2012 00:00

THE owner of thetrainline.com has pulled a planned sale of the rail ticket website after bids fell short of its expectations.

Exponent, which bought the business from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin in 2006, had been hoping to net about £400 million after commissioning investment bank Rothschild to carry out an auction.

However, despite interest from private equity firms and rivals, the highest bid in the second round of the process was reportedly around £250m, causing the sale to be cancelled.

It is thought the process may be revived at a later stage.

Amazon ready for London operation

Internet giant Amazon is to open a new centre in London, housing teams of design and development staff.

Hundreds of employees will be based at the site, including software development engineers and graphic designers, focusing on creating interactive digital services for computers, games consoles, televisions and smartphones.

The company, which has a distribution base in Dunfermline, last year opened a customer service centre in Edinburgh’s Waverley Gate office development, creating 500 permanent jobs.

‘All in it together’, claims the CBI

Most firms describe employee relations as “co-operative” and many believe morale is high despite the state of the economy, the CBI has claimed.

The employers’ organisation surveyed more than 300 businesses, employing almost two million workers, and found only 5 per cent of firms believed relations were adversarial.

Virtually all those polled were confident their staff recognised the need to contain costs. Almost a third said they planned to create jobs in the next six months, and around half were planning below-inflation pay rises.