Halfords names Jill McDonald new chief executive to replace Matt Davies March 23, 2015 Halfords has named Jill McDonald as its new chief executive, filling the saddle left empty by Matt Davies who's departing to lead Tesco's business operations in June. McDonald will leave fast food chain McDonald's where she is UK chief and president of North West Europe. The former marketing chief joined the restaurant business in 2006 [...]
City UK boss Gerry Grimstone: We’re not all bad apples March 23, 2015 Huge numbers of finance workers are unfairly bashed by politicians whose rhetoric mixes up the misbehaviour of a few bad apples with that of the honest majority, the head of a leading City lobby group said last night. Chancellor George Osborne hit the Square Mile hard in his Budget last week, raising several billion pounds [...]
CityFibre asks watchdog to level playing field after BT-EE merger March 23, 2015 High speed fibre optic firm CityFibre has attacked BT, saying its planned acquisition of EE would “stifle innovation” and “deliver little tangible benefit for consumers”. CityFibre revealed the objection this morning, saying that it submitted a formal complaint to the Competition Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday. The company demanded Ofcom be allowed to enforce extra [...]
MPs demand a change to rules over insolvency following City Link collapse March 23, 2015 The collapse of delivery firm City Link over Christmas shows the insolvency system is flawed and mistreats contract workers, two influential groups of MPs claimed today. It can be cheaper for firms to pay a fine for breaking the rules, rather than to give workers the proper notice of redundancy, the Business, Innovation and Skills [...]
Aldi aims to leave rivals in its wake by adding 60 new stores March 23, 2015 Discount retailer Aldi looks set to outpace the big four this year as it ramps up plans for further expansion by opening 60 new stores in the UK this year. While the chain opened its first UK outlet 25 years ago, it was not until the onset of the financial crisis – and the subsequent [...]
City boss Gerry Grimstone: The buck has to stop with board directors March 23, 2015 Who is to blame when a banker many tiers from the top of the firm misbehaves? The banker alone? Their manager? The boss of their division? The chief executive? It can be chaotic working out who should be punished in a vast organisation across dozens of countries and hundreds of thousands of workers. But there [...]
CityFibre gets revenue boost but losses grow March 23, 2015 CityFibre saw its revenues rocket last year but failed to stem rising losses on its bottom line, the firm revealed this morning. The fibre optic specialist is the largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure in the UK, with a focus on Britain’s mid-sized cities, including York, Coventry and Doncaster. The firm’s specialisation in pure [...]
Quindell March 22, 2015 The numbers Quindell has reported Here's why it's interesting Quindell recently issued close to 850,000 shares as it moved to takeover Navseeker, after a legal dispute with the company. In early March, the troubled insurance outsourcer settled a US litigation in which it was claimed that Quindell and others had “misappropriated the entire value of [...]
FTSE 100 hits 7,000: The historical graph which charts the highs and lows of Britain’s blue-chip index March 20, 2015 It's finally done it: having peaked in 1999, and then again last month, the FTSE 100 has finally achieved the unachievable, breaching the hallowed 7,000 mark, proving a "psychological barrier" really is just a figment of the imagination. Since its 1999 peak, the index has yo-yoed, weathering 9/11 before bouncing back, then plummeting again as [...]
FTSE 100 closes above 7,000 as Europe agrees Greece deal March 20, 2015 The FTSE 100 closed about 7,000 points this evening, ending the day at 7,022 after breaching the "psychological" barrier for the first time this afternoon as Europe agreed a further bailout deal for Greece. It's the first time the index has ever risen as high as 7,000 – in 1999 it rose to 6,750, before [...]