I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat
Ben Reid checks out of Co-op Group after vote for reforms May 19, 2014 VETERAN Co-op Group board member Ben Reid announced his resignation yesterday, leaving the firm after a turbulent year and 14 years on the board in total. The Co-op offered no comment on the move other than that Reid was stepping down, but people familiar with the situation suggested that Reid’s departure had long been on [...]
Ex-boss of the stock exchange to join Vodafone board as non-exec May 19, 2014 FORMER London Stock Exchange (LSE) chief executive Dame Clara Furse has been snapped up by Vodafone, and will take a non-executive position on its board. The firm announced yesterday that Furse, who headed up the LSE for eight years, will also become a member of Vodafone’s audit and risk committee. The appointments begin in September this [...]
Banks set to get report cards on their reputation May 19, 2014 BRITAIN’S banks are set to establish a new independent watchdog that will publish yearly updates on how much the public trusts them. Sir Richard Lambert, in his latest report on restoring public faith in the industry, yesterday called on all banks to sign up to his proposed Banking Standards Review Council. The six retail banks [...]
Saga customers get float off to a healthy start May 19, 2014 SAGA customers have subscribed for enough shares in the insurance to holidays group to cover the £500m of new money it hopes to raise in its upcoming flotation. Books for the retail element of the deal do not close until tonight but already bankers have been reporting healthy interest. Institutional investors will be able to [...]
UK businesses uneasy about future of Europe May 19, 2014 BUSINESSES in the UK are growing increasingly wary of the Prime Minister’s strategy on European renegotiation, new research has found. According to a survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), 54 per cent of businesses said they would back David Cameron’s plan to reform the relationship between the UK and the EU. But 19 [...]
Cameron and Miliband neck and neck as polls call wins for both May 19, 2014 ONE YEAR ahead of the next general election in 2015 Labour and the Conservatives are neck and neck in the opinion polls, according to research out yesterday. Two new surveys called different parties as likely to win if the election were held tomorrow, piling pressure on both to step up their campaigns in order to win [...]
Nothing is more British than our imperfect Europe, says Clegg May 19, 2014 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg will give a rousing speech today on Europe, telling an audience at Oxford University that the EU election vote on Thursday is a “debate of the heart, not just the head. A vital debate, in the end, about who we are.” In his address to the European Studies Centre the [...]
Ryanair raises hopes after its profits decline May 19, 2014 RELIEVED Ryanair investors yesterday took the budget airline’s shares 10.6 per cent higher after the firm’s first fall in profits for five years was less steep than expected. The Irish airline said net profits fell eight per cent in the year to the end of March to €523m (£426m), slightly above its own prediction of [...]
Dixons Retail sells Electroworld chain ahead of Carphone tie-up May 19, 2014 DIXONS Retail is selling off its loss-making Electroworld business in central Europe ahead of its £3.7bn merger with Carphone Warehouse. The retailer said yesterday it has agreed to sell Electroworld, which has 26 stores in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to a local rival NAY. On completion of the deal, which is expected to take [...]
UK bosses say skills shortage is biggest risk to business growth May 19, 2014 EMPLOYEE skill shortages are the largest threat to the UK economy, business leaders say. A report released by PwC this morning shows that despite a strong desire to hire, two thirds of businesses are concerned about skill shortages. Some 64 per cent of firms think that problem may hamper their expansion. It polled as the [...]