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Virgin Group has announced plans to open a chain of six family health centres, offering a range of NHS and private services such as dentistry, screening and pharmacies. 14-Jan-2008 Virgin Group is considering plans for a £1bn flotation of its worldwide chain of 167 health and fitness clubs next year. 05-Nov-2007 Virgin is planning to set up a chain of Virgin Medical Centres, in order to provide modern facilities for groups of GPs. 05-Feb-2007 Virgin Group is planning to delist its Victory Corporation cosmetics and jewellery subsidiary, in order to restructure the business and focus on selling through TV and the internet. 27-Nov-2006 Virgin is considering plans to offer biodiesel fuels to car drivers in the UK, and its new Virgin Fuels subsidiary has acquired a £32m stake in US-based alternative energy company Cilion. 11-Sep-2006 Virgin Group has sold its V2 music publishing business to Morgan Stanley for undisclosed terms, in order to clear the way for the launch of a new music TV channel. 16-May-2006 Virgin Group has acquired full control of the Virgin Active chain of 77 fitness clubs, having bought a 55% stake from Bridgepoint for £134m. 07-Oct-2005 Virgin is to hold talks with various airlines about proposals to build a $2bn oil refinery to produce aircraft fuel, and the company is also interested in setting up an oil exploration business. 14-Sep-2005 Virgin is planning to raise at least £250m in a flotation of 40% of its Virgin Mobile operation, in order to fund the global expansion of a number of Virgin businesses. 01-Jul-2004 Virgin is to close its Travelstore travel agency business, with the loss of 180 jobs in Gorleston, Norfolk, and 50 jobs in London. 30-Jun-2004 Virgin is moving into the online betting and casino market through a joint venture with WagerWorks. 28-Jun-2004 Virgin is planning to spend £90m modernising its chain of 174 Megastores over the next two years. 03-May-2004 Virgin Retail is selling 41 VShop music stores to Sanity for about £2m, in order to focus on its Megastore Xpress sites. 04-Nov-2002 Virgin has agreed to sell a 50% stake in Virgin Blue, its low-cost Australian airline, to Patrick Corporation for about £96m. 13-Mar-2002 Bridgepoint Capital has acquired a 55% stake in Virgin Active in a deal that values the health clubs business at £110m, and will invest a further £43m opening new sites. 25-Feb-2002 Virgin is forming a £68m joint venture with Sprint to offer pre-paid mobile phones in the US. 08-Oct-2001 Virgin has sold the Our Price music chain to Brazin of Australia in exchange for a foothold in the Australian market for its V-Shop and Megastore brands, and the 77 Our Price stores will be rebranded as Sanity. 04-Oct-2001 Virgin Active has secured a £100m capital injection to fund the opening of a further 17 health clubs by the end of next year. 09-Aug-2001 Virgin Cinemas is planning to open a further 13 cinemas in Japan by 2004, and has already identified 10 sites. 02-Aug-2001 Virgin has agreed to sell its 16 French Megastores to Lagardere Media for £92m, and the proceeds will be used to expand its mobile phones and other Virgin operations throughout the world. 27-Jul-2001 Virgin is seeking a buyer for its virgin.net internet service provider, as NTL has dropped plans to buy full control of the business. 06-Jun-2001 Virgin is looking to set up a mobile phone service in Japan by next April, and talks are taking place with local operators to lease airtime. 09-May-2001 Virgin Megastores is planning to install Virgin Space internet cafes at 10 of its outlets this year, including sites in Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle. 07-May-2001 Virgin is planning to relocate its online Travelstore business from Ashford to Norfolk, where it already employs 200 people in Gorleston, which will involve new premises and the creation of up to 200 new jobs. 09-Feb-2001 Virgin Active is to acquire the 85-strong chain of Health & Racquet Clubs of South Africa from the liquidators of LeisureNet for £28m. 18-Dec-2000 Virgin Active has withdrawn from talks to acquire Healthland International, the health club operator with eight clubs in the UK, casting doubt over the future of the South African-owned business. 09-Oct-2000 Virgin Wine is planning to invest £10m in its home delivery wine operation, in preparation for a possible flotation in 2002. 02-Oct-2000 Virgin Mobile has secured £115m of financing from JP Morgan, in order to fund the expansion of its mobile phones business by selling the handsets through a wider range of retail outlets. 26-Sep-2000 Virgin Active is to open a £5m health club at Blythe Valley Park in Solihull in spring 2001. 05-Sep-2000 Virgin Active is planning to set up a fitness centre at a £20m leisure development being proposed by Glencarron Properties at Nursling near Southampton. 28-Aug-2000 Virgin is planning to move into home and motor insurance in partnership with the AA. 23-Aug-2000 Virgin Active is planning to set up a fitness centre at the Great Northern Warehouse development in Manchester. 26-Jul-2000 Virgin is forming a joint venture with London Electricity to offer electricity and gas to households via the internet. 06-Jun-2000 Virgin is to launch an online car retailing operation, and aims to sell 24,000 new cars in the first year at discounts of up to 30%. 23-May-2000 Virgin is forming a joint venture with SingTel Mobile of Singapore to provide cellular phone services in Asia. 22-May-2000 Virgin Active is to set up new health and fitness clubs in Northampton, Islington and Rayleigh, and negotiations are under way to acquire sites in eight other locations. 17-Apr-2000 Virgin is to shift the focus of its 57%-owned Victory Corporation from clothing to cosmetics, although the clothing brand will continue to be sold abroad. 05-Apr-2000 Virgin is planning to convert its 230 Our Price music stores into mobile phone outlets, providing a range of high technology products and acting as service centres for its online operations. 27-Mar-2000 Virgin is planning to launch an online wine business called Virginwines.com, selling up to 8,000 labels at discount prices. 10-Mar-2000 Virgin is planning to set up a mobile phone service in Australia later this year, in a joint venture with Optus. 21-Feb-2000 Virgin Megastores has threatened to withdraw from music retailing, due to concerns about the effect of downloading music from the internet and the rapid consolidation in the music industry. 26-Jan-2000 Virgin is planning to sell cut-price cars imported from other EU countries over the internet. 30-Dec-1999 Virgin is selling a 49% stake in the Virgin Atlantic airline to Singapore Airlines for £600m, and proceeds will be invested in its online and mobile phone operations. 21-Dec-1999 Virgin has bought a majority stake in Worldwide Travel, which will lead to the creation of 100 jobs at the Norfolk-based travel business over the next 12 months. 13-Dec-1999 Virgin is to set up a cut-price airline in Australia called Virgin Australia, and will invest £18m to operate an initial fleet of five Boeing 737s. 29-Nov-1999 Virgin is considering plans to set up a £9m gym in Norwich, which would be its fourth Active Life Centre. 26-Oct-1999 Virgin is planning to set up a mobile phone distribution centre near Daventry, creating an initial 35 jobs. 16-Oct-1999 Virgin Entertainment is in discussions with a number of potential bidders for its 34 cinemas, which could be sold for about £230m. 09-Oct-1999 Virgin has confirmed plans to sell Virgin-branded mobile phones in a joint venture with One-2-One, and will sell them through its 220 Our Price shops and 85 Virgin Megastores. 09-Aug-1999 Virgin is planning to link up with One-2-One to launch Virgin-branded mobile phones, and will set up a call centre with 500 staff. 07-Jun-1999 Virgin is in talks with the Post Office about a joint bid to win the contract for the National Lottery from current operators Camelot. 22-May-1999 Virgin is investing a further £9.7m in its cola business in order to expand market share and reduce losses. 18-Mar-1999 Virgin is said to considering plans to move into the telecoms sector later this year, concentrating on technology that enables people to view TV pictures and gain access to the internet via their phone. 01-Mar-1999 Virgin Atlantic is planning a major rebranding programme that will introduce a new livery to its aircraft, and about 2,000 jobs will be created as it launches new flights to Shanghai, New York and Chicago. 01-Mar-1999 Virgin is planning to invest £50m in the expansion of its retailing business on the internet. 17-Feb-1999 Victory, the fashion and cosmetics business in which Virgin has a 56% stake, is acquiring the debt of Cadoro, the menswear retailer, and some of Cadoro's stores may be rebranded with the Virgin name. 17-Feb-1999 Virgin Rail has awarded a £1.25bn contract to Alstom for the supply of 53 tilting trains for use on the west coast main line, and they will be manufactured at Alstom's Washwood Heath factory in Birmingham. 10-Feb-1999 Virgin Entertainment has pulled out of talks to sell its Our Price music stores to PPM Ventures due to disagreement over price, and another buyer is now sought. 05-Feb-1999 Virgin Megastores is to redesign some of its music stores to target the over-30s, and the first new-look store will open in Glasgow this autumn. 22-Jan-1999 Virgin has announced plans to build a £6m nine-screen multiplex cinema in Hull, which will create 60 new jobs. 14-Jan-1999 Virgin Atlantic has won Civil Aviation Authority approval to fly to Shanghai twice a week. 24-Dec-1998 Virgin Rail has awarded a £1.06bn contract to Bombardier of Canada for the supply of tilting trains for its Cross Country franchises, and they will be manufactured at plants in the UK, Belgium and France. 10-Dec-1998 Kier has won a £9m contract to build a Virgin cinema complex in Glasgow. 04-Dec-1998 Virgin is looking for suitable sites to open 30 out-of-town stores over the next five years, and they are expected to sell holidays as well as cinema, music and leisure products. 27-Nov-1998 Virgin Entertainment is delaying the sale of its Our Price music stores until next year, as potential venture capital purchasers want to see evidence that trading will hold up over Christmas. 27-Nov-1998 Virgin is planning to create about 1,500 jobs in its airline and charter holiday operations, including 1,000 cabin crew, 150 airport staff, and 250 at the new Mediterranean holiday company, Virgin Sun. 26-Nov-1998 Virgin Atlantic is looking at the possibility of operating daily flights between Birmingham and New York by taking over the route which British Airways is abandoning. 23-Nov-1998 Virgin Atlantic is forming an alliance with China Eastern Airlines to bid to fly a new route between Heathrow and Shanghai. 18-Nov-1998 Virgin Rail is planning to compete for more rail franchises when competition rules are relaxed in 2002. 18-Nov-1998 Virgin Rail is to create 1,000 jobs in Scotland over the next five years by expanding its booking and call centre service in Edinburgh and Dingwall. 06-Nov-1998 Virgin Rail has selected Angel Train Contracts and Lombard GATX to finance the purchase of 132 trains from Fiat Ferroviaria, Alsthom and Bombardier, in a £850m leasing deal. 14-Oct-1998 Virgin Atlantic has won a three-year contract from the Ministry of Defence to transport troops between London and Washington. 10-Oct-1998 Virgin Rail has won regulatory approval for its planned tie-up with Stagecoach, on the condition that it pays refunds to passengers on late trains. 08-Oct-1998 Virgin Trains is considering proposals to operate 200mph trains in Florida, in what would be the first major overseas venture by a UK private rail company. 05-Oct-1998 Virgin is to open a 20-screen cinema complex in Sheffield in November, including the biggest screen in the UK. 30-Sep-1998 Virgin Atlantic has dropped plans to set up a domestic US airline because of Washington's strict regulations that limit foreign ownership to 25% of the voting shares. 24-Sep-1998 Virgin Group is negotiating the sale of its 229 Our Price music shops to a management team, but will keep the 88 Virgin megastores. 14-Sep-1998 Virgin is delaying the launch of its internet music and video store in order to set up a network of sites targeted at specific countries where its Megastore chain is already established. 05-Aug-1998 Virgin Entertainment is negotiating the acquisition of multiscreen cinema sites in New York and Los Angeles, and is also close to purchasing two further sites in Japan. 04-Aug-1998 Virgin Atlantic is said to be planning to operate a "limoboat" service, taking business passengers from London to Heathrow airport. 20-Jul-1998 Virgin Express, the low-cost airline, is planning to move its base from Brussels to Ireland in order to escape high labour costs and claimed interference from government and unions, although most of its services will still fly from Brussels. 08-Jul-1998 Virgin Group is acquiring WH Smith's 75% stake in the Our Price music retailing business for £145m, and intends to manage the smaller outlets separately from the megastores. 08-Jul-1998 Virgin is said to be close to appointing two US investment banks to advise on the flotation of its Virgin Atlantic airline, which could take place later this year. 02-Jul-1998 Victory Corporation has scaled back the expansion programme for its chain of six Virgin-branded cosmetics and clothing stores, and will now only open a further three this year. 25-Jun-1998 Stagecoach has acquired a 49% stake in Virgin Rail for £158m, which means that Virgin will not now go-ahead with a planned flotation. 23-Jun-1998 The rail regulator has given approval to the £2.1bn upgrade of the west coast main line, having received assurances from Railtrack and Virgin Rail that services will improve and other operators will be given access to additional paths. 09-Jun-1998 Citibank is to offer a year's free internet access to its customers in a deal with Virgin Net. 03-Jun-1998 Virgin is said to be planning to move into the mobile phones market, and is discussing a possible joint venture with Cellnet. 01-Jun-1998 Virgin Group is planning to float a number of its businesses on the stock market over the next two years to enable it to continue to invest in start-up ventures, and likely candidates for flotation include the airline, the travel business, and the cinema business. 01-Jun-1998 Virgin Rail is planning to float in mid-July, but a final decision will depend on the rail regulator giving approval for Railtrack's planned upgrade of the West Coast line. 30-May-1998 WH Smith is in negotiations to sell its 75% stake in the Our Price music chain to Virgin for over £135m, and a deal could be agreed next month. 26-May-1998 Virgin Express is in discussions to acquire a small unnamed UK airline that would give it access to an operator's licence for Boeing 737 aircraft. 19-May-1998 Virgin Atlantic, the airline, is said to be planning to return to the stockmarket this autumn with a £1bn flotation, which would follow a planned listing of Virgin Rail in the summer. 11-May-1998 Virgin Rail expects to proceed with plans for a flotation, and details are expected to be announced next month for a flotation as early as June. 21-Apr-1998 Virgin has rejected two foreign takeover approaches for its chain of 30 cinemas which are thought to be worth about £200m. 16-Apr-1998 The rail regulator has said it will only approve the proposed £2.1bn upgrade of the west coast main line if Railtrack and Virgin Trains agree to make further improvements to the infrastructure in order to enable other companies to use the line. 04-Apr-1998 FMR Corp, the US owner of Fidelity Investments, has bought a 12% stake in Virgin Express, the no-frills airline that operates on European routes. 03-Apr-1998 Virgin Cinemas is planning to spend £36m expanding into the US and Japan, and will start with the construction of six multiplexes in each country. 03-Apr-1998 Virgin Express, the low-cost airline, may move its headquarters from Brussels to the UK or Ireland due to interference from the government and unions in Belgium. 25-Mar-1998 Virgin Rail is awarding a £850m contract for the construction of 55 mainly tilting trains for its cross-country network to Bombardier of Canada. 03-Mar-1998 Virgin has decided that its planned investment with Railtrack in the west coast main line is not dependent on it being given an extension to its franchise, which expires in 2012. 20-Feb-1998 Virgin Rail has awarded a £1bn contract to GEC Alsthom to supply and maintain tilting trains for the West Coast main line. 14-Feb-1998 Virgin Group has bought out Cott's 50% stake in their cola soft drinks joint venture to enable it to take full control of marketing and reverse a decline in market share. 12-Feb-1998 Direct Line and Virgin Direct are proposing the launch of a kitemark scheme for low-cost, low-risk, savings products. 06-Feb-1998 Virgin is rolling out its Virgin One combined mortgage and savings account ahead of schedule due to the high level of interest it has generated. 16-Jan-1998 Siemens has pulled out of the bidding to supply two major train orders to Virgin Rail, citing stiff penalty clauses demanded by Virgin for late delivery or breaches of contract. 16-Jan-1998 Virgin Rail is asking for a 15 year extension to its west coast main line franchise, taking it to the year 2027, in order to justify a £500m investment in tilting trains. 24-Dec-1997 Virgin Group is increasing its stake in Victory Corporation, the holding company for Virgin-branded cosmetics and clothing, from 15.6% to 49.3% at a cost of £14.5m. 19-Dec-1997 British Airways has won Civil Aviation Authority approval to operate a daily flight from Gatwick to Denver, beating off Virgin Atlantic's attempt to operate a twice a week flight from Gatwick to Las Vegas. 18-Dec-1997 Ginger Productions is acquiring Virgin Radio for £85m, thereby preventing Capital Radio from succeeding with its £87m bid. 09-Dec-1997 Virgin Rail has eliminated a joint venture between GEC Alsthom and Fiat Ferroviaria from its shortlist to build £250m of diesel trains for its CrossCountry franchise. 04-Dec-1997 Virgin Rail is considering a plan to hire seven specially built Eurostar trains for its London to Manchester service, as a temporary measure until it receives delivery of new tilting trains. 25-Nov-1997 Virgin is considering the possibility of refurbishing old rolling stock for its CrossCountry rail network, instead of buying new tilting trains, although a number of options have been submitted by bidders. 20-Nov-1997 Virgin Express, the low-cost airline, has raised $96m in an over-subscribed share offer and about $50m will be used to grow the business. 14-Nov-1997 Ginger Productions has made a £80m offer to merge with Virgin Radio, following regulatory problems which have delayed Capital Radio's £87m agreed bid. 14-Nov-1997 Virgin Megastores has delayed plans to launch an internet record store until the new year, due to higher-than-expected set-up costs and the uncertainty over WH Smith's controlling stake in the company. 04-Nov-1997 Railtrack and Virgin Rail have agreed a £2.1bn plan to double the capacity on the west coast route between London and Glasgow which will allow for the use of 140mph tilting trains. 29-Oct-1997 Virgin Express, the low-cost airline, is planning a flotation in Brussels and New York, in order to raise $100m for the expansion of its fleet and for working capital. 22-Oct-1997 Virgin Direct is introducing the Virgin One bank account in conjunction with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which will be a combined mortgage, current account, savings account and credit card, and its innovative design is intended to provide a serious threat to the big four banks. 18-Oct-1997 Virgin Radio has revealed that there are a number of other interested suitors should its proposed takeover by Capital Radio be blocked by the Monopolies & Mergers Commission. 11-Oct-1997 Railtrack is in discussions with Virgin Rail about the possibility of upgrading the West Coast Main Line to cope with 140mph trains in return for a revenue-sharing agreement. 04-Oct-1997 Virgin Group has bought out most of its joint venture partners to create a new Virgin Entertainment Group, and now plans to develop its music megastores in the US and open 15 new UK cinemas over the next two years. 17-Sep-1997 Virgin is inviting bids for the construction and maintenance of 40 tilting trains for its west coast rail franchise, and the order could be worth up to £600m. 25-Aug-1997 Virgin Group has had a £135m offer to take control of the Our Price record chain rejected by WH Smith. 22-Aug-1997 Virgin Rail is looking into the possibility of a £250m flotation next spring. 20-Aug-1997 Virgin is looking into the possibility of setting up a bank, but it is more likely to be a telephone or computer-based service than one with high street branches. 04-Aug-1997 Capital Radio's £65m bid for Virgin Radio has been referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission, due to concern over the possible effect on the radio advertising market in London. 01-Aug-1997 National Express, GB Railways and Virgin Rail have all been shortlisted to operate Australia's three long-distance passenger train services, which are expected to be sold-off by the government for about £50m. 07-May-1997 Capital Radio is acquiring Virgin Radio Group, which owns a national commercial licence and an FM licence in London, for £65m, giving Capital a total of three radio stations in London. 07-May-1997 Virgin Atlantic has ended its alliance with Delta Air Lines of the US and is going into partnership with Continental Airlines instead. 14-Mar-1997 Virgin Group is to set up a customer service and telesales centre in Edinburgh to serve its rail operations, employing an initial 250 people. 26-Feb-1997 Virgin Group is developing plans to launch a new type of multimedia leisure centre which will include cinemas, retailing and video games, and is in discussions with prospective partners. 24-Feb-1997 Virgin Group has won the 15-year franchise for the InterCity West Coast railway, and will invest £200m in station improvements and a telephone sales centre as part of a plan to increase ticket revenues four-fold. 20-Feb-1997 Virgin Group has been selected as preferred bidder for the InterCity West Coast railway, and says it will invest £600m to introduce tilting trains to the route. 08-Feb-1997 Virgin Group is planning to introduce a new Voyager class to attract business travellers to its CrossCountry Trains operation, and will also offer special promotions for students. 30-Nov-1996 Virgin Group has won the CrossCountry train franchise, which runs between Aberdeen in the north and Penzance and Brighton in the south. 29-Nov-1996 Virgin Communications has launched Virgin Net in a joint venture with International CableTel of the US, which will offer internet access through retail outlets such as Virgin Megastores. 20-Nov-1996 Virgin Group has been selected as preferred bidder for the Cross Country rail franchise, which includes train services from Edinburgh and Aberdeen to Penzance and Brighton. 14-Nov-1996 Granada, Virgin and the BBC are all said to be planning to launch music television channels on cable and satellite in the UK, with Virgin expected to partner BSkyB and the BBC to partner Flextech. 06-Nov-1996 Virgin Express is discussing the acquisition of some flights between London and Brussels from Sabena, the Belgian airline. 25-Oct-1996 Research Machines, the supplier of computer services to schools, is setting up a joint venture with Virgin Net to provide its services through Virgin's internet service. 15-Oct-1996 Virgin Express is in discussions to acquire assets and French landing and take-off slots from Air Liberte, the failed French regional carrier. 11-Oct-1996 Virgin Group has proposed a £50m plan to operate trains between Heathrow Airport and the City of London, and is seeking approval from BAA, the airport operator. 03-Oct-1996 Virgin Group is planning to build the UK's biggest cinema complex in Leeds, with 5,000 seats and 20 screens. 03-Oct-1996 Prism Rail, Virgin and a management team from Great Western Railways have been shortlisted for the franchise for Cross-Country Trains, which operates long-distance services such as Glasgow to Bournemouth. 24-Sep-1996 Virgin Atlantic is discussing the formation of an alliance with BWIA, the Caribbean airline, which could involve code-sharing or Virgin taking a 27% stake in BWIA. 06-Aug-1996 Virgin Group is preparing to open the first Virgin Cinemas Multiplex in Rochester, which will include a number of innovations including a shop selling records, books and videos, and a premium viewing room. 26-Jul-1996 Virgin is moving further into financial services with the launch of a range of low-cost term insurance and health insurance products. 20-May-1996 BSkyB is in discussions with Virgin Group about plans to jointly launch a cable and satellite TV station. 06-May-1996 Virgin Cinemas is planning to build 18 multiplex cinemas over the next four years, which will make it the UK's biggest multiplex operator. 04-May-1996 Virgin Cola is to be launched in the US, with test marketing to start in a state later this year. 03-May-1996 Virgin Group has bought 90% of Euro Belgian Airlines for £38m and will use the acquisition to help it reduce the cost of air travel in Europe. 30-Apr-1996 Virgin plans to launch an internet service called V-Net later this year, in conjunction with an unnamed UK telecoms company. 23-Apr-1996 Virgin Radio is in discussions to buy a stake in FM104, the Irish radio station. 27-Feb-1996 Virgin Radio is considering a stock market flotation, possibly as a way of funding international expansion. 12-Feb-1996 Virgin is trying to acquire a majority stake in European Belgian Airlines. 06-Feb-1996 Virgin has lost its High Court claim that ITC had unlawfully awarded the Channel 5 licence to Channel 5 Broadcasting. 27-Jan-1996 PepsiCo has been told by the ASA to alter its Pepsi Challenge ads, following a complaint by Virgin concerning the fact that Virgin Cola was not taken into account in the "61% chose Pepsi" claim. 06-Dec-1995 UKTV is to follow Virgin's lead in seeking a review of the ITC award of the Channel 5 licence. 02-Dec-1995 Virgin plans to increase the range of products it sells through its telesales financial services division, including term assurance and personal pensions. 25-Nov-1995 Virgin Television has been granted a judicial review of the ITC Channel 5 licence award. 23-Nov-1995 Virgin Television is to try to get a judicial review over the ITC's award of the Channel 5 licence to the Channel 5 Broadcasting consortium. 14-Nov-1995 Sales of Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka have fallen well short of expectations in their first year. 23-Oct-1995
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