Olswang to ditch lockstep pay May 23, 2010 OLSWANG is set to join a handful of law firms by overhauling its associate pay structure and moving away from the traditional lockstep model. From September, the London based legal outfit will move associate remuneration to a model that will connect pay with performance, shifting away from the historical model of linking pay to number [...]
Legal sector confident as associate salary ban lifted May 23, 2010 A NUMBER of major UK law firms have signalled a return in confidence by unfreezing associate pay. Recently merged, Hogan Lovells is the latest large firm to lift a ban on pay rises, after handing out a small salary increase to associates. Lawyers at Hogan Lovells who have just qualified will now earn £60,000, marking [...]
Historic water fountain at St Paul’s opens May 23, 2010 THE first public drinking fountain certified in London in 30 years has opened in the City. The fountain, located alongside St Paul’s Churchyard, was a hit with tourists over the scorching weekend. The fountain, which could be the first of many across the City, is part of a proposed scheme to restore the historic drinking [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 23, 2010 Ofcom Stewart Purvis will quit media regulator Ofcom after a two-and-a-half year stint at the quango. He will leave his post in the autumn. He was responsible for content regulation and standards. He was previously chief executive at ITN and has over 30 years of broadcast experience, including working for the BBC and ITN. At [...]
Aurum back in profit after restructuring May 23, 2010 LUXURY jeweller Aurum Holdings announced earnings of £10.5m yesterday, a jump of 27 per cent, after refinancing last November. The parent company of Goldsmiths, Watches of Switzerland and Mappin & Webb made a post-tax profit of £0.1m in the year to January 2010, against a loss of £19.4m the previous year. While overall sales were [...]
Dubai outlines plan to stave off second crisis May 23, 2010 DUBAI plans to set up a programme to address weaknesses in its financial system while the United Arab Emirates will open a debt management office to coordinate on issuance for state-linked companies, an official said yesterday. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee, also said that Dubai’s debt restructuring proposal for [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 23, 2010 NATIONAL GRID Goldman Sachs reiterates a “sell” rating on National Grid after the group’s £3.3bn rights issue. Goldman Sachs said that a $900m goodwill write off in the US rate base has led to a reduction in its price target. Goldman’s cum-rights price target is 544p. ENEL UBS upgrades Enel to “buy” for three reasons: [...]
Intel and Google team up May 23, 2010 Intel hopes to cash in on the rapidly growing internet television market when Google TV is launched. Google is planning a new service that will broadcast content from the internet to users’ TV sets. It will collaborate with Logitech and Sony, as well as Intel, on the new technology, which will be incorporated into some [...]
Google gets US anti-trust OK May 23, 2010 Google Inc has won US approval to buy mobile advertising rival AdMob, after months of delay and rumour that the No. 1 Internet search engine was headed for a court fight with government officials over the $750m (£518m) transaction. The Federal Trade Commission’s decision followed unusually public comments by app developers that the agency’s staff [...]
Voters target small issues May 23, 2010 PEOPLE are more worried about potholes in the road than violent crime, according to a new survey by O2 and Populus. While the election was fought on macro issues – including David Cameron’s “big society” campaign – voters are far more concerned with minor annoyances like uneven roads and slow internet connections. Out of the 2,040 [...]