BBC bonuses culled amid profit slide July 14, 2009 THE BBC’s commercial arm reported a 27 per cent drop in full-year profit yesterday, as the broadcaster said it had suspended all executive director bonuses until further notice. BBC Worldwide said pre-tax profit slid to £85.7m in the year ending March 2009, despite revenue hitting £1bn for the first time. The company blamed the drop [...]
Petrol sellers’ popularity at the mercy of pricing July 14, 2009 JUST how much some brands are affected by price can be seen in the first graph, which plots the average BrandIndex score of six petrol companies (BP, Texaco, Shell, Esso/ExxonMobil, Total) against the inverse of petrol prices. It shows an extraordinary correlation of 0.91. Every price movement has a predictable effect on the brands’ ratings. [...]
WEST END SUMMER BOOM July 14, 2009 LONDON’S West End is expecting a “gold rush” of 140,000 shoppers from the Middle East over the Summer in advance of Ramadan, spending an estimated £250m. As the Euro shopper market softens, retailers are for the first time pulling out all the stops, including extending opening hours and making key additions to the services on [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 14, 2009 Piper JaffrayThe international middle market investment bank announced the appointment of Martin Brennan as associate for its technology banking team, which is led by Eric Sanschagrin. Brennan was previously senior associate at FirstCapital, a boutique telecoms, media and technology investment bank. He advised on nine technology Venture Capital and Private Equity financings and six M&A [...]
Oil price dips on demand worries July 14, 2009 US oil prices dipped into negative territory yesterday as dealers worried a bumpy economic recovery could delay a rebound in ailing world energy demand. US crude fell 9 cents to $59.60 a barrel, extending a decline that shaved 11 per cent from the price last week. London Brent crude rose 7 cents to $60.76.
RBS merges Asia-Pacific teams July 14, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is to combine its Asia-Pacific investment banking teams ahead of a likely sale of its Asian operations to Australia’s ANZ, Standard Chartered or HSBC. The bank will merge its advisory, wholesale banking and risk management operations in a move it said would help it better serve clients in the region. The [...]
Young’s soothes its investors July 14, 2009 London-focused pubs group Young’s said yesterday it had made a solid start to the current financial year and was trading in line with expectations despite tough economic conditions. At its annual meeting the company said total sales at its 122 managed pubs were up 3.3 per cent in the 15 weeks to July 11, with [...]
Morgan Sindall wins its wings July 14, 2009 Construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall yesterday announced that its construction division Morgan Ashurst has won a £71m contract with plane maker Airbus to build a wing assembly factory. The factory is expected to be completed by October 2010.
More City jobs up for grabs as hiring appetite improves July 14, 2009 THE DROUGHT of available jobs in London’s financial services sector eased in June with 20 per cent more new vacancies coming up for grabs compared to the previous month, according to recruitment giant Morgan McKinley. The firm said new job numbers have hit their highest this year, although there were still 58 per cent fewer [...]
Liontrust reassures as outflows persist July 14, 2009 LIONTRUST Asset Management has continued to suffer sharp withdrawals following the shock resignation of star fund managers Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson, but chief executive Nigel Legge has said efforts to stabilise the group will pay off. During the second quarter clients withdrew £929m from the firm’s funds and the total of new investments made [...]