British estate agent Countrywide Holdings expects it's planned IPO to value it at up to £750 million, two people familiar with developments at the company said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the sources said that Countrywide has priced its share for the sale in the range of 260 pence to 350 pence apiece, which would give the company a valuation in the range of £600 million to £750 million.

From the offering of new shares, the company aims to raise £200 million. The proceeds will be used to cut the company's debt pile and grow the business.

Travel firm Thomas Cook has announced its decision to close its 195 high street travel agencies and cut 2,500 jobs in the UK.

The planned closures and job cuts are a part of the 172-year-old travel firm's restructuring plan, which aims to turn its distressed British business around.

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, also said that most of the cuts would affect positions in the back-office and within the firm's retail network.

South Korean carmaker Kia has announced that it would not sell its 'Provo' car in the UK.

The announcement followed a parliamentary motion by DUP MP Gregory Campbell, arguing that the name `Provo' was often used for the Provisional IRA during the Northern Ireland Troubles. The motion stressed that it would be offensive to victims of the Provisional IRA.

Kia responded that it had no plans to launch the car in the UK, where it could be offensive to victims of the Provisional IRA, and added that the model was a special one planned for a Swiss motor show.

BBC's instant streaming service iPlayer will soon become available on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform also, a spokesperson for the broadcaster said.

Cyrus Saihan, head of Business Development at BBC Future Media, said that the BBC iPlayer would be made available on Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 platforms in the next few months.

Chancellor George Osborne will reportedly try to convince his EU counterparts to make a relaxation in the European Parliament's strict proposals to curb bankers' bonuses.

The European Union's 27 finance ministers are all set to meet in Brussels take a decision on the matter on Tuesday.

The European Union's Economic and Financial Affairs Council is expected to give approval to previous week's proposals, which include limiting bankers' bonuses to 100 per cent of their annual salaries or to 200 per cent in case shareholders endorse.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which is owned by Indian auto giant Tata Motors, has revealed its plans to increase investment and double employment at its engine plant in Wolverhampton.

Ralf Speth, chief executive of the British luxury car maker, announced that the management had decided to increase investment at the engine plant from a previous plan of nearly £350 million to more than £500 million.

The luxury car maker is also spending £2.75 billion to boost sales of vehicles, such as a nine-speed gearbox Land Rover and the Jaguar F-Type.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 510 is believed to be announced to fill the gap left between the 5+ inch phablets and the 10+ inch tablets.

Announced last week on the occasion of the Samsung Forum 2013 in Hyderabad for the Indian market, the Samsung Note 510 features an 8-inch display, which prompted many to call it an Apple iPad Mini killer.

The 8-inch TFT LCD display offers a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, at 189 pixels per inch (ppi) density. Visuals presented by the display are quite detailed and impressive.

Google has refuted reports that it is worried about the increasing dominance of Samsung and that its relationship with the South Korean manufacturer has become strained.

Speaking at a recently held Morgan Stanley investment conference, Google CFO Pichette claimed that the company had a very strong relationship with Samsung, and that the reports about the alleged strain between the two companies were created by journalists who loved big headlines which sell newspapers.

The Internet is abuzz with reports about the screens shots and release date of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, though developer Ubisoft is yet to make an official announcement regarding that.

Based on a leaked trailer for the fourth-generation Assassin's Creed game, unconfirmed reports claim that the eagerly-awaited game will be available from October 29 this year.

The leaked trailer also claims that the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will also become available on next-generation gaming consoles.

Manufacturing activity in the UK dropped unexpectedly in February, giving a major set-back to hopes that the country can return to growth in the next few months.

The recently published Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the UK showed that manufacturing activity in the country dropped from 50.2 in January to 47.9 in February, well below the reading of 50 that separates growth from contraction.

William Hill bookie's business could reach £5 billion over the next five years, according to the bookmark service's chief executive Ralph Topping.

Topping predicted the huge increase in the company's business in the coming years after it spent £424 million to take full control of its online operation.

William Hill acquired 29 per cent stake in software firm Playtech, which will give it a freer hand to make investment in the online business worth around £1.5 billion. William Hill is presently worth £2.9 billion.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is on track for a partial privatization sometime in 2014, the part-nationalized lender's chairman Sir Philip Hampton said.

The government has acquired 81 per cent stake in RBS after bailing it out at a cost of £45.5 billion at the peak of economic crisis in 2008.

Sir Philip stressed that returning of the government-owned lenders to private hands was crucial, and it should be done as soon as is practically possible.

Despite higher taxes and lower sales, British American Tobacco (BAT) enjoyed an increase of 15 per cent in pre-tax profit to £5.6 billion in 2012.

British American Tobacco, the second-biggest listed tobacco company of the world, offset the adverse effects of higher taxes and lower sales by hiking prices as well as boosting volumes of its four flagship brands: Dunhill, Kent, Pall Mall and Lucky Strike.

Workers at Chivas Brothers' bottling plant in Dumbarton accidentally flushed thousands of liters of whiskey down the drain.

The blunder took place at the plant during the night shift on Tuesday while workers on duty mistook the whiskey for waste water while equipment was being cleaned.

The smell of the drained out spirit was so strong that even sewage workers reported it.

According to the findings of Nielsen's Mobile Consumer Report, 97 percent of the UK population owns a mobile handset, with nearly 61 percent owning a smartphone. More than half of the smartphone users in the country have said that they have never received any adverts when their handset in is use.

The Nielsen report's revelation that nearly 53 percent of the UK smartphone users haven't got adverts while using the phone implies that either mobile advertising is easily ignored by the users or it is apparently an underused marketing channel.