Angela Ahrendts says goodbye to Burberry May 1, 2014 ANGELA AHRENDTS finally made her exit from Burberry yesterday after eight years at the helm of the luxury fashion retailer. American-born Ahrendts is due to start at Apple this month, with chief creative officer Christopher Bailey taking her place. She is understood to be taking with her the £5m bonus due for the past financial [...]
There’s no such thing as a Shore thing in wine May 1, 2014 THERE were a few in the City starting to wonder whether or not Shore Capital’s wine tasting do was going to happen at all this year. The annual knees-up usually takes place in February but as March and indeed April sped by there was still no sign. Had the stockbroker fallen on hard times? Had [...]
TUMI’s London treasure hunt May 1, 2014 FORGET Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, Easter’s over and we’re sick to death of sweets – there’s a new golden ticket in town: TUMI’s golden suitcases. The luxury travel brand is celebrating the launch of its flagship store on Regent Street with a competition, offering two lucky winners a luxury trip extravaganza. The trip takes in [...]
Strauss has Batty Day at Lloyd’s of London May 1, 2014 DURING a quiet moment at the Lloyd’s of London insurance market yesterday, former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss (L) gave some cricket tips to Mark Stephenson (M) and Sean Rocks (R) from Liberty Specialty Insurance. The visit was to announce the renewal of Liberty’s sponsorship of Test match grounds this summer, which will see the [...]
Schroders stays on top despite stronger pound May 1, 2014 CITY fund manager Schroders yesterday became the latest FTSE 100 giant to be hit by the surging value of the pound, after the currency wiped about £15m off stronger first quarter profits. The business, which makes almost 60 per cent of its revenue from overseas, said sterling’s strength against the Australian dollar, the Japanese yen [...]
Woodford lures three Invesco stars as $13bn leaves ex-funds May 1, 2014 FUND star Neil Woodford has poached three equity chiefs from his former home Invesco Perpeutal, adding to Invesco’s woes after it revealed a 15.5 per cent fall in profits yesterday. Stephen Lamacraft, Paul Lamacraft and Saku Saha, who worked in Woodford’s equity team, are on the verge of joining the fund veteran’s new company Woodford [...]
Metro Bank edges closer to turning a profit May 1, 2014 CHALLENGER bank Metro moved closer to the black in the first quarter, yesterday reporting its loan book is approaching the £1bn mark. The high street bank lost £10.6m after taxes in the three-month period, just down on the £10.8m it lost in the final quarter of 2013. Customer deposits at the bank grew by £301m [...]
New Serco boss kicks off with a £160m placing May 1, 2014 RUPERT Soames has started his tenure as head of Serco with a £160m fundraising to avoid a default on the outsourcing firm’s debts. Serco said worsening trading meant it was coming “uncomfortably close” to its leverage ratio limits, prompting the share placing to tide the firm over while Soames works out where to take the [...]
Bottom Line: New broom Soames has a lot to sweep up May 1, 2014 THERE’S nothing like a profit warning and an emergency cash call to kick off your tenure as chief executive of one of the FTSE 250’s most beleaguered groups. That’s what Serco boss Rupert Soames – poached from Aggreko in a major coup for the support services firm – faced yesterday on his first day in [...]
US corporate results round up May 1, 2014 Cereal maker Kellogg gets a rude awakening from generic rivals Kellogg, the world’s biggest maker of breakfast cereals, reported a bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly revenue yesterday as competition from private-label brands and alternative breakfast items ate into cereal sales. Sales at Kellogg’s US morning foods business fell 5.5 per cent in the first quarter. Oaktree [...]