Budget forecasts in question May 26, 2009 Chancellor Alistair Darling faced fresh embarrassment last night as a survey of independent forecasts for the Treasury forecasting UK growth were more negative than his own predictions. Last month’s Budget predicted that growth would be 1.25 per cent in 2010 before bouncing back to 3.5 per cent in 2011, 2012 and 2013. But the average [...]
SDI reveals retail contract wins May 26, 2009 SDI Group, the Aim-listed distribution services firm, yesterday announced a number of new contract wins totalling around £8m. Distribution deals have been struck with student clothing retailer Jack Wills and discount store chain TK Maxx. The group also said it had won contracts to build automated warehousing systems for Dutch clohing retailers Noppies and Wolverine [...]
Evercore appoints new chief May 26, 2009 Boutique advisory firm Evercore Partners has named Ralph Schlosstein chief executive officer and president with immediate effect, chairman Roger Altman announced yesterday. Schlosstein, a co-founder and former president of fund manager BlackRock, will work with the chairman to expand Evercore’s global reach and diversify its operations. “Our goal is to build Evercore into a global, [...]
SWINE FLU HITS THE CITY (WELL, SORT OF…) May 25, 2009 IT had to happen eventually: the global swine flu outbreak has officially claimed its first City victim. Well, that might be a touch exaggerated, since the poor chap in question – Sterling Printers director Simon Pearson-Miles, who’s better known in the City simply as “PM” – only contracted a mild sniffle after coming into contact [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK May 25, 2009 TO VIVAT Bacchus London Bridge on Saturday night for a cosy dinner of scallops, two separate African antelope delicacies (springbok and kudu tartar) and plenty of cheese. I hear the dishes were picked out specially by the restaurant team for our four diners, who put up their feet as they were served with a feast [...]
UN CONDEMNS NUCLEAR TEST May 25, 2009 NORTH Korea tested a nuclear weapon yesterday, briefly shaking Asian markets and triggering an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the communist state’s act of defiance. US President Barack Obama said Pyongyang’s bid to develop nuclear weapons was a threat to international peace and security, and called on world leaders to condemn the test. China, [...]
New TNK-BP boss lined up May 25, 2009 TNK-BP, BP’s joint venture in Russia, said yesterday it had nominated a former Soviet vice-consul in Uganda as its next chief executive. Pavel Skitovich will replace TimSummers, who has been holding the fort since Bob Dudley fled Russia following a campaign of intimidation. “The search for a new chief executive is over,” a spokesperson for [...]
Shell on trial over deaths May 25, 2009 A CIVIL trial that will judge any involvement by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell in the executions of protesters in Nigeria will begin in New York on Wednesday, more than 13 years after their deaths. Shell is accused of being connected to the 1995 hangings of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other protesters by Nigeria’s [...]
Tories pledge deep change May 25, 2009 CONSERVATIVE party leader David Cameron has promised that his party will deliver a radical redistribution of power, in an attempt to address voter disquiet over MP expenses. “We need to look seriously at the immense power prime ministers wield through their ability to call an election whenever they want. If we want parliament to be [...]
Markets mustn’t ignore geopolitical risk May 25, 2009 FOR most investors, consumers and employees around the world, the only public policy debate that really matters is how to deal with the recession – understandably so, given the devastation it has already wreaked. In Britain, we are also seeking to rescue democracy from corrupt politicians. Yet while there is plenty to worry about at [...]