CITY BOSS JOINS BEAR GRYLLS ON ARCTIC TRIP April 11, 2010 IT ISN’T every day that a financier gets to ditch his day job for a few weeks and sail off into the sunset for the adventure of a lifetime with a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. Then again, how many City financiers can count Bear Grylls – the skydiving, creepy crawly-munching, elephant piss-drinking star of Channel 4’s [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK April 11, 2010 THINGS are clearly looking up for the business world, as this group of City gentlemen demonstrated last week with a luxurious private lunch at the top of the iconic Gherkin. Our diners opted for the eight-course tasting menu to sample the finest cuisine that Searcys had to offer, accompanying it with a comprehensive selection of [...]
Cadbury cafe chain to be launched April 9, 2010 CADBURY is set to launch a high street cafe chain under new owners Kraft. Up to 60 new outlets called Cadbury Cocoa Houses are to be set up across the UK, serving hot chocolate, afternoon tea and novelty chocolate gifts. The outlets will be up against the likes of Starbucks in the high street cafe [...]
Factory gate prices surge April 9, 2010 FACTORY gate inflation jumped more than expected to a 16-month high in March, raising doubts that consumer price pressures will subside as fast as the Bank of England expects. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said producer output prices rose 0.9 per cent on the month, more than twice the jump analysts had forecast, for [...]
Commercial property hit by election uncertainty April 9, 2010 COMMERCIAL property could be slow to rebound unless the government tackles the budget deficit and tax fears, according to a London property consultancy. Cushman & Wakefield said in its latest business briefing note that deals had been slow in the last month amid uncertainty over the election. C&W’s head of research David Hutchings said: “The [...]
John Lewis easter sales jump 30pc April 9, 2010 JOHN Lewis has posted a 30 per cent jump in weekly sales after a bumper easter. The retailer said sales at its 28 department stores and one “at home” store were £59m in the week to 3 April, up from £45.4m in the same week last year. Merchandise director Jill Little said: “We now have [...]
Aviva heads back into Asian insurance market April 9, 2010 AVIVA said it would re-enter the Asian general insurance market five years after offloading its non-life operations in the region. Britain’s second largest insurer has made the move into Singapore after rival Prudential spent £24 billion on the Asian operations of bailed-out American insurer AIG. Asia has one of the world’s quickest expanding financial services [...]
Michael Page profits rise after UK jobs boost April 9, 2010 RECRUITMENT specialist Michael Page has seen profit rise by 2.9 per cent in the first quarter after a pick-up in the UK jobs market. The company – which places professionals such as accountants and lawyers – had said in January that Britain was lagging behind. The UK market makes up 30 per cent of its [...]
Investors fear a greek tragedy April 8, 2010 MARKETS cranked up the pressure on Greece for the third day in a row yesterday in a perilous game of brinksmanship with its financial backers, the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Betting on a default from the struggling country, investors forced the interest charge on Athens’ 10-year bonds beyond 7.5 per cent at one [...]
Brown: I’ll crack down on bonuses April 8, 2010 GORDON Brown put bankers’ bonuses at the heart of the general election campaign last night, as he pledged to give the FSA powers to “quash” individual pay contracts. The Prime Minister launched a broadside against “reckless risk taking” and said a Labour government would force banks to take more responsibility. He added: “In our manifesto, [...]