Patisserie Valerie takes trip to Starbucks to find new commercial director December 18, 2018 Under-pressure cake shop Patisserie Valerie has rebuilt its management team by snapping up a former Starbucks executive. Rhys Iley will try to reinvigorate the chain’s 200 stores as he takes up the role as commercial director. The appointment marks the end of new chief executive Steve Francis’s hiring spree after he brought in interim finance chief [...]
Indivior rallies as it plays rivals at their own game December 18, 2018 Indivior shares jumped over 17 per cent today as the company decided to take on generic copies of its star drug Suboxone by launching a cheaper version. The opioid treatment is facing challenges in the US where it is locked in a court battle with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL). Last week Indivior won a case [...]
National Grid gets shock as Ofgem lowers cap on shareholder payouts December 18, 2018 Ofgem will slash the amount of money network providers can pay to their shareholders under plans announced today, a move which it said could save customers around £45 a year. In an announcement which sent National Grid shares down over nine per cent to 759p, the regulator said it would set the baseline returns at [...]
Barclays fined $15m by US authorities over whistleblower unmasking scandal December 18, 2018 US authorities have slapped Barclays with a $15m (£11.87m) fine over its attempts to unmask a whistleblower two years ago, led by chief executive Jes Stanley. A New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) investigation found Staley personally told the bank’s head of security to try to identify the author of two whistleblowing letters in [...]
Take-private deals worth more than $1bn set to increase in 2019 December 18, 2018 Private equity buyouts of public companies over $1bn could increase next year as firms fight to find value. Take-private deals are likely to be much larger than other buyouts generally, with figures from Pitchbook showing that the median size this year was $977m, compared to the average non-take-private deal size of $175m. A third of public-to-private [...]
Asos bosses snap up cheap shares after day of horror for fashion sector December 18, 2018 Asos boss Nick Beighton and chairman Adam Crozier have snapped up thousands of shares in the company in a show of confidence following the retailer’s profit warning. The two executives each bought shares worth roughly £100,000 this morning after the company saw £1.3bn wiped off its value in a disastrous day of trading. Beighton and [...]
SFO director Lisa Osofsky wants agency to crack down on ‘corporate big boys’ December 18, 2018 The director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said she wants the agency to be able to go after the "corporate big boys" who typically evade prosecution for economic crime and fraud. Ex-FBI lawyer turned SFO director Lisa Osofsky told the Justice Select Committee that senior individuals within large corporate organisations were not being [...]
John Lewis defies retail troubles as it reports festive sales rebound December 18, 2018 John Lewis has bucked the downward retail trend, reporting a rebound in sales last week as it matches rival pre-Christmas promotions. The department store said total sales for the week to 15 December were up 1.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. The employee-owned company said the sales boost was due to [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland lines up female interim chief financial officer for permanent role, reports December 18, 2018 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) reportedly is on the cusp of shaking up the male-dominated boardrooms of the country’s biggest banks by naming interim chief financial officer (CFO) Katie Murray as its permanent head of finance. The bank is waiting for approval by banking watchdog the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) before naming Murray as CFO, [...]
Malaysian criminal probe into Goldman Sachs extends across borders to units in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore December 18, 2018 Goldman Sachs units in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong have been hit with criminal charges connected to a money laundering and corruption investigation in Malaysia, as the authorities target businesses outside the country’s borders. Malaysian authorities published a charge sheet yesterday naming London-based Goldman Sachs International, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) PTE and Hong-Kong based Goldman [...]