Sales jump at M&B as deals cheer punters September 24, 2009 Pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers yesterday said that it expected its full year earnings to beat current forecasts, after a return to bargain dining and cheap boozing boosted sales. The owner of All Bar One and O’Neill’s pubs chains reported a like-for-like sales growth of 2.6 per cent in the 10 weeks to [...]
Punch Taverns sells off 300 pubs as shareholder urges it to turn off taps September 24, 2009 SCHOCHRODERS fund manager Andrew Brough has said that pubs group Punch Taverns should consider winding up the business over the next 18 months. Brough, who owns a 3.4 per cent stake in the pub group through his Schroder Mid 250 fund, said it would be in investors’ interests if the struggling pub group called time [...]
EASY MONEY FOR STELIOS September 24, 2009 EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou yesterday used 2m of his shares in the firm as security for a £7.5m loan. Stelios’s spokesman denied that the tycoon was in need of cash, saying the money is to be used for the expansion of his easyHotel and easyOffice businesses, and potentially an easyBus fleet.
Panmure Gordon trading improves as equity recovery spurs trading interest September 24, 2009 STOCKBROKER Panmure Gordon has said its losses narrowed in the first half of the year, as trading rose during the equity market rebound. The firm said its losses narrowed to £3.65m, compared to £19.5m in the same period a year earlier, in a statement to markets. Revenue rose by 23 per cent to £28m thanks [...]
UBS clients disclose unpaid taxes September 24, 2009 More than 50 Canadian clients of Swiss bank UBS have come forward to disclose unpaid taxes, and investigations so far have found C$7m (£3.9m) in unreported income, Canada’s tax authority said yesterday. The voluntary disclosures follow a high-profile investigation of UBS by US authorities, who accused the bank of using Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws to [...]
Eurostar passengers flee train September 24, 2009 Eurostar passengers had to flee as they disembarked a train yesterday, when a live overhead cable fell inches from them. The high voltage cable collapsed as the 5.13pm train from Paris to London came into platform nine at St Pancras International. Engineers worked on the electricity, and the fire brigade was called.
Jaguar to close Midlands plant September 24, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will close one of its West Midlands plants either in Birmingham or Solihull by the middle of next decade, it said yesterday. But the group, which is owned by India’s Tata, added it would create around 800 new jobs at a plant in Merseyside, where a new “efficient” Range Rover will [...]
Taxman launches snitch site September 24, 2009 TAX body HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched a new website to help people snitch on businesses they believe may be dodging tax. HMRC said it has launched a new facility allowing people to “raise their concerns online” about firms and individuals that might be “cheating the system”. The push for informants, which comes [...]
Waitrose draws up plans to open 300 small stores September 24, 2009 UPMARKET grocer Waitrose yesterday unveiled plans to take a bigger share of the convenience store market, saying it could open up to 300 smaller format stores, stepping up its challenge to top end rival Marks & Spencer . Waitrose, part of the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership, also said it would open more stores in motorway [...]
RIM earnings fall as it trims its forecasts September 24, 2009 BLACKBERRY maker Research In Motion said yesterday that profits had dropped as it gave an outlook short of analyst forecasts heading into the holiday shopping season. RIM said its quarterly profit dropped 3.5 per cent and that it added only 3.8m new subscribers, at the low end of the forecast it had provided in June.That [...]