Rail industry promises 6,400 new passenger trains a week by 2021 to address the railway’s “capacity crunch” March 20, 2017 Britain's rail industry has announced plans to run 6,400 more passenger trains a week by 2021 as around £50bn gets plugged into the network to address a "capacity crunch". Projected timetable improvements for the next four years show 1,283 more trains a day will run from Monday to Friday nationwide, according to analysis by the Rail [...]
Mary Berry to launch new cakes with Finsbury Food Group March 20, 2017 Finsbury Food Group will be launching a new cake range with Mary Berry in the second half, but its share price fell at the open after it gave a cautious outlook on the year ahead. The figures For the 26 weeks ending 31 December, group revenue was flat at £156.6m. Profit before tax rose 5.3 [...]
Disruption on the DLR leads to Monday morning rush hour delays for City commuters March 20, 2017 City commuters are facing disruption this morning, with delays on the Docklands Light Railway. Transport for London warned of severe delays on the line between Canary Wharf/Poplar and Bank, and said it was due to a person ill on a train earlier. https://twitter.com/LondonDLR/status/843723794778902529
Vodafone’s Indian arm announces mega-merger with Idea Cellular March 20, 2017 Vodafone is merging its Indian operations with its rival in the region, Idea Cellular, in a move that will create the largest mobile phone operator in India. The group will have around 380m customers in India, which represents more than a third (35 per cent) of all mobile phone users in the country. Idea Cellular's parent [...]
Maven Capital drafted in by north-east local authority to help small businesses March 20, 2017 Durham County Council has drafted in private equity firm Maven Capital to run a £20m fund aiming to give the local economy a shot in the arm. Maven will manage investments on behalf of Business Durham, an initiative set up by local authorities. Business Durham makes investments of between £200,000 and £2m with 10 per cent of funds [...]
Lack of online experience at major luxury brands undermining growth opportunities March 20, 2017 Lack of senior experience in ecommerce and emerging markets could be holding back profitability at top luxury brands, according to research by executive search firm DHR. The study of the world’s top 50 luxury goods businesses found that just five per cent of board members have experience in ecommerce, and only 16 per cent have [...]
One in four UK deals broke down last year, and more M&A collapses are expected in 2017 March 20, 2017 One in four deals involving UK listed firms broke down in failure last year, new analysis today shows. And, with further economic and political uncertainty on the way, more disrupted deals are thought to be on the cards this year. Read more: Jupiter boss plays down M&A rumours: "We’re not looking to be acquired" Accountancy firm [...]
Worrying mood music on global free trade from the G20’s summit in Baden-Baden March 20, 2017 The way in which the world’s most advanced economies understand and attempt to order global trade policy underwent a quiet revolution over the weekend. The German spa town of Baden-Baden hosted the annual meeting of the G20 at a critical and sensitive time. China has started to talk the talk on free trade, even if [...]
Unilever and the confused priorities of the Davos elite March 20, 2017 If Angela Merkel epitomises the overrated in terms of international statesmanship, her equal in corporate terms must be Paul Polman of Unilever. As is true with the German Chancellor, it is unfathomable to me that the leader of a major corporation with a record this hapless should be lionised. For the larger point is that both [...]
London’s Islamic finance boom shows that flexibility and innovation are in the City’s DNA March 20, 2017 In recent years, the UK has stepped up its game in Islamic finance. In 2014, for example, it became the first country outside the Islamic world to issue a sovereign sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of a bond. With such significant developments taking place here in the UK, I was very much looking forward to a trip [...]