Sports Direct in swoop for stake in Blacks February 22, 2010 RETAILER Sports Direct is circling for a disputed 29 per cent stake in rival Blacks Leisure. Sports Direct’s subsidiary Sportsdirect.com is looking to acquire the rights as well as an 11 per cent holding in JD Sports Fashion from the administrators of collapsed bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. The move would allow the FTSE 250 [...]
Gold helps boost pawnbroker’s coffers February 22, 2010 CASH-STRAPPED consumers offloading their gold jewellery helped to boost the coffers at pawnbrokers Albemarle & Bond in the latter half of 2009. The FTSE Small-Cap group posted a 75 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £10.8m with revenue soaring 49 per cent to £394m. Its “cash-for-gold” division proved particularly popular with recession-hit consumers looking [...]
Crossrail and Heathrow ‘vital’ for UK economy February 22, 2010 KEY transport projects like Crossrail and a third runway at Heathrow must urgently be carried after the general election, a report has found. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the success of the economy depended on improving the transport network. Crossrail would provide an east-west train travel artery across London while an expansion of [...]
BAA losses hit £822m after Gatwick sale February 22, 2010 AIRPORTS operator BAA has reported a big loss for the full year 2009 as the forced sale of Gatwick and declining passenger numbers hit the company. The operator posted a pre-tax loss of £821.9m compared with a £324.2m loss in 2008. The sale of Gatwick cost the company £277.3m and pension deficits £217.8m, while passenger [...]
Primark fuels sales growth at Associated British Food February 22, 2010 PRIMARK growth has helped to fuel a predicted “substantial rise in profits” at parent company Associated British Food. The London-based group said in a trading update it expected a jump in half-year earnings and a strong full year. Its 196-strong discount chain Primark saw an 8 per cent rise in sales – with stores in [...]
CITY TYPES SHOW THEY’RE GAME AS SHOOTING MAKES A COMEBACK February 22, 2010 WELL, well, well: how about this for a turn-up for the books? You know the good times are returning when the traditional City pastimes start making a comeback – eating and boozing at the swankiest of places, corporate jollies at the races, on the track or on the golf course, that kind of thing. So [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK February 22, 2010 THESE off-duty City types headed to swanky Italian Vineria in St John’s Wood last weekend for a blow-out £2,500 Sunday brunch, munching their way through sea bass, monkfish, veal and a mountain of pasta. The gastronomic feast lasted well into the afternoon, helped on its way by two bottles of Krug 1995 champagne, two apiece [...]
RBS boss Hester to waive £1.6m bonus February 22, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester has decided to waive the bumper £1.6m bonus to which he is contractually entitled for this year, amid a fierce torrent of populist anger over remuneration in the banking sector. The news comes after Barclays chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond set the bar for [...]
Glaxo in diabetes drug feud February 22, 2010 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has come under renewed pressure to take leading diabetes drug Avandia off the market after a report by the US Senate finance committee accused it of being unsafe. The report, issued at the weekend, claimed the pharmaceutical giant was aware of the possible health risks associated with the medication before the information was [...]
How a secret rule caused the crisis February 22, 2010 SLOWLY but surely, some economists are beginning to piece together the real causes of the crisis. And as you might imagine, their findings are strikingly at odds with the conventional explanations, which tend to revolve around greed, bankers’ animal spirits and deceit. One brilliant new paper shows how an obscure regulation deliberately encouraged US retail [...]