Hotel firm failures rocket July 27, 2009 The number of UK hotel businesses becoming insolvent jumped by 120 per cent since June 2008, but the rate of failure is beginning to slow, according to a report out today by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. London hotel chains have so far defied the gloomiest of predictions by dropping room rates to attract volume demand. Hotel insolvencies peaked [...]
Thornton’s new finance director July 27, 2009 Chocolate retailer Thorntons said yesterday that former Somerfield finance director Mark Robson is set to join Thorntons as successor to finance director John Wall. Wall informed the firm of his intention to step down from the board earlier this year. Robson, 46, began his career with BDO Stoy Hayward where he qualified as a Chartered [...]
Stalled house projects get cash July 27, 2009 Hundreds of housing developments in England that have stalled during the recession are set to share in a £925m attempt to kick-start the industry, the government said yesterday. About 270 projects could benefit from the cash, housing minister John Healey said, with a third of the funds to go to housing associations to build affordable [...]
GS4 launches services for firms July 27, 2009 International security services group GS4 yesterday launched its Information Security and Assurance business, which delivers a range of integrated services for the handling and destruction of classified and commercially sensitive media and equipment. The group, which provides secure destruction services for government agencies will now be providing its services to commercial firms.
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 27, 2009 Henderson New StarAsset manager Henderson Global Investors has appointed Mark Carpenter, a director in its property division, as head of its Henderson New Star property funds, replacing Roger Dossett. Dossett, who was head of New Star’s property team before Henderson took over New Star in April, will leave Henderson later this year to pursue his [...]
SPOTIFY JOINS THE BIG APPLE July 27, 2009 Spotify, the music streaming website, yesterday said it will launch an application for Apple’s iPhone. Premium subscribers to Spotify will be able to search for new music and store over 3,000 songs, even when the device doesn’t have a signal, putting it in direct competition with Apple’s own music store, iTunes.
America joins hedgie fight as UK looks for Swedish support July 27, 2009 THE US yesterday waded into the row over the European Commission’s (EC) plans to strictly regulate hedge funds that do business in the region Officials from the US authorities are quietly lobbying finance ministers in Europe in a bid to overturn a draft law that would impose a burdensome disclosure regime and leverage limits on [...]
US new home sales rocket July 27, 2009 SALES of new homes in the US surged to a seven-month high in June, while the inventory of homes for sale fell to its lowest level in more than 11 years, official data showed yesterday, boosting hopes that the US housing market may finally be starting to stabilise. Government figures indicated an 11 per cent [...]
Easing inflation worries improve German consumer confidence July 27, 2009 GERMAN consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than a year as easing inflation encouraged shoppers, according to data from research group GfK yesterday. The GfK consumer sentiment indicator, rose to 3.5 going into August from an upwardly revised reading of 3.0 for July. “Inflation is fading and people have more money in [...]
Upturn for corporate credit July 27, 2009 BRITISH corporate credit conditions improved in the second quarter of the year, partly as a result of asset purchases by the Bank of England (BoE), the central bank said yesterday. Market contacts reported improved liquidity and price transparency for corporate bonds, and short-dated commercial paper issuance declined because firms were able to find longer-term finance, [...]