Former M&S merchandising head to return to the high street after Asos fiasco August 20, 2013 Kate Bostock, former fashion head at Marks & Spencer, is returning to the high street next month as chief executive of privately-owned occasion wear retailer Coast, following an ill-fated and short-lived stint as executive director at online retailer Asos. The retailer confirmed the news to City A.M. on Tuesday afternoon. Bostock's appointment to head up [...]
Gherkin owner asks courts to oversee £2.7bn debt restructuring August 20, 2013 The German real estate company that co-owns the Gherkin building has said it is seeking protection from creditors after failing to reach an agreement to restructure its debt. IVG will apply for a Schutzschirmverfahren, whereby the courts will oversee the restructuring of its €3.2bn (£2.7bn) of debt. IVG owns around €5bn of office buildings in [...]
200 bankers fail ethics test August 20, 2013 An ethics test for young bankers by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) has had a 98 per cent pass rate since its relaunch in April, the professional body has said. But this means that 200 of the 10,000 taking the test failed to achieve the A or B grade required to take [...]
IoD warns Labour that without zero-hour contracts job creation will suffer August 20, 2013 As Labour MP Chuku Umunna holds a summit on zero-hour contracts today, business group the Institute of Directors (IoD) has slammed claims that those on these flexible jobs early £6 less per hour than other workers. Alexander Ehmann, head of employment policy at the IoD, says: Claims that employees without guaranteed hours are paid less [...]
Greek banks’ reliance on ECB funding increased in July August 20, 2013 Funding for Greek banks from the European Central Bank increased by €900m (£772m) in July, while emergency liquidity assistance from the country’s central bank fell by €4.86bn, data from the Bank of Greece said today (report). ECB funding to Greek banks rose to €62.04bn in July from €61.14bn in June, while emergency liquidity assistance form [...]
Barnes & Noble founder withdraws offer to buy company’s bookstores as losses worsen August 20, 2013 The founder and chairman of Barnes & Noble has dropped his offer to buy the US bookseller’s retail business as the company’s first quarter net loss more than doubled to $87.02m (£55.56). Losses per basic share also increased, to $1.56 from $0.76 in the same period the year before. Sales fell 8.6 per cent to [...]
BAE System’s US head to retire August 20, 2013 BAE Systems has announced that the head of its US business Linda Hudson will be retiring from her post. A search is underway for a replacement, and Hudson has said she will remain in place for a date to be determined, but no later than 31 March 2014. Hudson took charge in 2009, becoming the [...]
Mexican economy’s four year expansion cut short August 20, 2013 Mexico’s economy shrank unexpectedly in the second quarter, becoming the first quarter in the last 17 to experience contraction (release). Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.7 per cent between April and June 2013. Analysts had expected to see a 0.2 per cent expansion following the previous quarter’s 0.5 per cent growth. On an [...]
Government names preferred bidders for electronic tagging contract August 20, 2013 The Ministry of Justice has selected preferred bidders for four contracts to deliver new satellite technology to track the movement of offenders in the community, including outsourcing giant Capita and British family-run company buddi (release). It’s the first time the service has been let nationally, and is expected to generate significant efficiency savings for the [...]
Growing business confidence kickstarting IPO recovery – Capita August 20, 2013 The London initial public offering (IPO) market is recovering from the "hangover" of the financial crisis, but we're still a long way off the "glory days", Capita has said. By Capita's calculations, 53 companies undertook an IPO in 2012 – the second worst year on the domestic main market of the last fifteen years (after [...]