The Phone War October 25, 2005 Richard Branson and Charles Dunstone lead our troops into battle over mobile networks in France. Precisely 200 years after Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, a new Anglo-French battlefront has opened up, this one over mobile telephone networks. Sir Richard Branson is leading the troops in this latest skirmish. Yesterday, he announced a joint venture with Carphone [...]
End of the road for Cendant October 25, 2005 Cendant is to split into four separate companies, it revealed yesterday, as it also reported a slowdown in some of its leisure travel businesses. The American owner of Avis, the car rental company, Ramada hotels, and ebookers, wants to split into four listed companies after seeing its shares decline 9 per cent this year. Cendant [...]
Takeover talks on miner Greenwich October 25, 2005 British gold mining company Greenwich Resources admitted yesterday that it is in talks with a pair of Australian rivals, which may lead to a reverse takeover. The company based in Malvern, Worcestershire said it was currently talking to listed companies Buka Minerals and Danae Resources. The Financial Services Authority has temporarily halted dealings in Greenwich’s [...]
Profits soar at Schering October 25, 2005 German drug company Schering has seen its quarterly profits soar by 29 per cent thanks to a cost-cutting programme and better than expected sales of its new birth control pill Yasmin. The company has increased its end of year profit forecast; shares rose by nearly 3 per cent on the news in pre-market trading. Profit [...]
Why women really mean business October 24, 2005 So, Robbie Williams thinks that experiencing the female orgasm will give him a better understanding of what it’s like to be a woman. Oh, if only it were that simple. To begin to understand what makes a woman tick, he’d be well-advised to get inside our heads first. And if, like us, you’re a woman [...]
The art of business October 24, 2005 With corporate curators taking more risks in their purchasing policy, staff around the City are being exposed to more cutting edge art than ever before. An excitable group of schoolboys snakes along one of the corridors of Deutsche Bank’s Winchester House offices in the heart of the City. They bob around a lithograph of a [...]
Crash Course? October 24, 2005 On the anniversary of the 1929 stock market collapse, Laurie Laird asks if we are in danger of repeating that disaster. What year is it? It’s October, and the autumn fashion shows have featured falling hemlines and rising waistbands — the wasp waist is back. On the economics front, the world’s biggest economy has been [...]
Max Petroleum set for AIM flotation October 24, 2005 Max Petroleum is to become the eighth largest AIM quote this year in the ever-growing oil and gas sector when it floats on Wednesday. The company is raising £26m and expects to reach a market capitalisation of £90m. It is also due to list in Frankfurt on the same day. The group specialises in oil [...]
Not switching off costs £123m a year October 24, 2005 Those who forget to switch off their computers at night should probably think twice. The simple action of pressing the off button could save British industry £123.2m every year. Research by Fujitsu Siemens Computers shows that 78 per cent of employees claim to be more environmentally friendly today than they were five years ago, yet [...]
London is too taxed October 24, 2005 The government is imposing an onerous and discriminatory system on taxpayers in London, according to a recent survey. The survey by Williams de Broe into regional disparities in the cost of living has found that the starting point for income tax in London should be £1,550 higher than in the country’s poorest region, Northern Ireland, [...]