CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2010 Greencore The convenience foods group has appointed business grandee Eric Nicoli, the chairman of cinema operator Vue Entertainment, as a non-executive director. In addition to his role at Vue, Nicoli is also currently senior partner at fund of hedge funds Sunningdale Capital. He was previously chief executive of United Biscuits and chairman and chief executive [...]
Italy takes EU lead on debt reduction May 16, 2010 ITALY is set to follow in Greece’s footsteps by being subjected to tough austerity measures to curb its ballooning deficit, the country’s economy minister said yesterday. Giulio Tremonti told the Italian Il Corriere della Sera newspaper that the austerity package, worth €27.6bn (£23.5bn) over the next two years, would include measures similar to those announced [...]
Anglo Irish Bank rejects the idea of 20-year wind down May 16, 2010 NATIONALISED Anglo Irish Bank expects to submit the latest version of its business plan to the European Commission this week, its new chairman said, with the aim of splitting it into a “good” and “bad” bank. Anglo Irish, which is being propped up by massive sums of state capital and which in March posted the [...]
Gulf hotel opens gold vending machine May 16, 2010 EMIRATES Palace, the luxury Abu Dhabi hotel, made history at the weekend as it unveiled the world’s first vending machine selling gold bars in its lobby. The ATM machine, itself plated in 24-carat gold, updates its prices every 10 minutes via an internal computer to match those quoted on international markets. It sells bars weighing [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 16, 2010 BT Citigroup has recommended BT as a “buy” after the telecoms group posted impressive fourth quarter results. Citi said revenue was ahead of estimates and consensus by four to five per cent. Revenue was driven by Global Services which beat consensus by £164m, according to Citi. BRITVIC Credit Suisse has issued Britvic with an “overweight” [...]
London sales are slowed by volcanic ash May 16, 2010 RETAIL sales growth in London has slowed after the ash cloud crisis took its toll, according to the British Retail Consortium. Sales were up 3.6 per cent in April while they had jumped by 5.1 per cent in the same month last year. The volcanic ash cloud which billowed across Europe grounded flights for six [...]
WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR BOTH UK RETAIL SALES AND CONSUMER SPENDING? May 16, 2010 PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC “Our suspicion is that pre-election jitters could have had a negative impact on shoppers, as it appears to have had in the Nationwide measure of consumer confidence. We are pencilling in decline of 0.5 per cent on the month but would warn that the monthly series is unpredictable.” PETER DIXON | [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
BANK BOSS HOLDS OWN IN STUDENT SCUFFLE May 16, 2010 THERE’S certainly one thing you can say with confidence about JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon: he ain’t afraid of taking the bull between the horns. Dimon yesterday braved the anger of the masses as he strode onto the campus of Syracuse University in New York, despite a planned protest against his invitation to [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK May 16, 2010 A LAZY late lunch was on the cards for these businessmen last week as they headed to 108 Marylebone Lane Restaurant and Bar, just off Marylebone High Street. They tucked voraciously into the restaurant’s locally-sourced menu, including smoked salmon, asparagus salad and a stilton tart for starters, followed by rib eye steak, rack of lamb [...]