Quindell lines up Mark Williams as finance chief after Slater & Gordon sale April 14, 2015 Quindell has lined up a new chief to take the reigns of its finances after the sale of its legal services arm to Slater & Gordon. Mark Williams, part of the consultancy which was brought in to review Quindell's business in January following the departure of chairman Rob Terry, will join the firm when the [...]
Poundland’s quids in: Sales surpass £1bn at discount retailer for the first time April 14, 2015 Sales at Poundland have smashed past the £1bn mark for the first time. The figures Sales at Poundland for the full year to the end of March were £1.1bn, up almost 12 per cent on the previous year's sales of £997m on a constant currency basis. It expects pre-tax profits to be in line with [...]
Nina Ricci heiress Arlette found guilty in HSBC Swiss tax fraud leaks case April 13, 2015 Arlette Ricci, heiress to the Nina Ricci perfume and fashion fortune, has been found guilty of tax fraud in a case prompted by a leaked list of people who used the services of HSBC in Switzerland. A Paris court sentenced Ricci, the 73-year-old granddaughter of co-founder Nina Ricci, to three years in jail with two [...]
JP Morgan promotes London bosses Viswas Raghavan and Emilio Saracho April 13, 2015 A pair of JP Morgan’s top bankers in London were promoted to bigger global roles yesterday, indicating the sustained success of the Canary Wharf office. Emilio Saracho has been deputy chief executive of the corporate and investment bank (CIB) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for two years, and is being promoted to become one [...]
Morrisons’ group trading director Casper Meijer joins mass exodus April 13, 2015 Morrisons’ trading director Casper Meijer has become the latest high profile executive to leave the troubled retailer as part of an ongoing shake-up under new chief executive David Potts. The former Tesco director has sacked over half of Morrisons senior management team since taking over in March as he tries to turn around the troubled [...]
Danish competition guru Margrethe Vestager set to go into battle with Google April 13, 2015 EU official Margrethe Vestager is tipped to lay charges against the internet giant as soon as tomorrow. As a company, Google’s name is so synonymous with searching that it is frequently used as a verb. In other areas the technology giant may not always have been so well-known. But that, say its detractors, has never [...]
Shell winds down UK retail sites as it sells off 185 service stations April 13, 2015 Shell has continued to downscale its European retail operations after announcing its intention to sell off 185 UK service stations yesterday. The announcement by the Anglo‐Dutch oil giant, which last week launched a £47bn bid for BG, comes after the firm made similar divestments in Italy, Germany and Norway last year. The sell-off will involve [...]
Utopia Village: Market Tech’s £44m Camden project to lure entrepreneurs April 13, 2015 The gentrification of the iconic Camden Market precinct shows no sign of slowing as Market Tech pumped £44m into acquiring the Utopia Village office scheme yesterday. The firm hopes to use the area’s rough-around-the-edges appeal to attract entrepreneurs. Located in Chalcot Road, the property sits close to the market entrance, and the new owner hopes [...]
Top companies now firing fewer chief executives as share of female bosses edges up April 13, 2015 The biggest firms in the world are opting to plan for their bosses’ successions rather than firing them in a panic, a new report has claimed. According to research from PwC consultancy Strategy&, when firms perform poorly and fire the chief executive, the uncertainty unleashed by the change at the top can lead to a [...]
The Ukraine crisis has cost Russian banks $5bn – that’s 25 per cent of their revenues April 13, 2015 The Ukraine crisis has hit Russian banks to the tune of somewhere between $4bn and $5bn, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's reckons. That's between a fifth and a quarter of their total operating revenues. It's hardly surprising that the crisis has cost lenders money – but what is surprising is that S&P believes there [...]