How companies can avoid M&A failures like the “revolutionary” Time Warner-AOL merger April 3, 2016 Last year was the biggest ever for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with AB Inbev’s ‘MegaBrew’ deal with SABMiller and Pfizer Inc’s merger with Allergan PLC among the deals. The announcement last month of the IHS/Markit merger shows us that 2016 has the potential to be another landmark year for M&A announcements. At Landor we have spent [...]
Success of National Living Wage depends on more businesses raising their game on productivity April 3, 2016 Last Friday's introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase the pay of millions of the UK's low-paid workers. Ultimately, though, it will only be judged a success if employers can sustain higher wages for the low-paid without the need for job losses and cuts to other pay and benefits. While the NLW will [...]
Stamp duty charges: The UK housing market needs more homes not more taxes April 1, 2016 Anyone waking up today who is planning or close to purchasing a second home may well feel as if an April fool's trick has been played on them. Whether helping a son or daughter get onto the housing ladder, investing in a buy-to-let property or buying a holiday residence, from today an additional three per [...]
London mayoral election 2016: Zac and Sadiq Khan may be trading punches, but the onus is on Goldsmith to land a knockout blow April 1, 2016 The race to succeed Boris Johnson as London mayor has mercifully entered the final rounds. The bell to mark the official start of the short campaign may have just rung, but Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan have been trading blows for nearly eight months – with neither landing a decisive shot. As the decibel levels increase, [...]
Cybersecurity: The steps every board member and C-suite professional should be taking now April 1, 2016 Cybercrime is as natural and irresistible a force of digital socioeconomic life as earthquakes are to the physical world. Left unaddressed, vulnerabilities in cybersecurity can hamper the pace of digital innovation, batter shareholder confidence and public trust, and ultimately open the ground beneath your feet, swallowing up your organisation. Overcoming the threat boils down to [...]
Premier Foods boss should keep bidders hungry April 1, 2016 Rival international bidders, restive shareholders and conflicting pension deficit assumptions: like all chefs, Gavin Darby is juggling an eclectic mix of ingredients. His company, Premier Foods, home to Mr Kipling, Bisto and Sharwoods, looks tastier than it has for years. A fresh offer from McCormick of the US, worth 65p-a-share, has rightly prompted Darby and his [...]
Steel crisis: The government must save the people, but not the industry April 1, 2016 This has been a sobering week for Britain’s once mighty steel industry. The problems that have led to Tata’s decision to sell its loss-making UK operations have been building for decades, and as politicians take pot shots over who could have done more to save the industry in recent years, it’s worth remembering just how [...]
Is a leading Spanish banker wrong in claiming that 90 per cent of the world’s banks will vanish within 20 years? April 1, 2016 Nick Cheetham, director of FINkit business strategy at Monitise, says Yes. Banks are in a continuous state of transformation in response to changing consumer trends. To suggest that they are going to almost entirely cease to exist within the next two decades is simply playing into the hands of those trying to create an investment frenzy. [...]
Why Sadiq Khan would be London’s most pro-business mayor yet April 1, 2016 London's prosperity depends on our city remaining an environment in which business is supported to grow and thrive. Like an increasing number of people in the business community, I believe Sadiq Khan will be the most pro-business mayor our city has ever had. Before entering politics, Sadiq helped run a business, so he understands the challenges [...]
Why Whitehall’s addiction to inaction is a threat to us all April 1, 2016 When I heard last year that there was going be another commission to deliberate on infrastructure issues, I had a Father Ted moment. In one episode, a parody of the film Speed, rather than dealing with a crisis, an assortment of priests stand around a blackboard and someone suggests that they say another mass. Are [...]