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 [...]
London’s Bournvilles: What the future of housing looks like in a supply-squeezed capital April 1, 2016 As everyone who studied the Victorians knows, one of the lasting legacies of these periods are the worker villages of Bournville and Saltaire. Planned and executed by the Cadbury and Salt families respectively to provide good quality housing for their employees, and thereby promoting staff loyalty and better living standards, these villages still thrive today. What [...]
Brazil: Between the rule of law and the rule of politics March 31, 2016 President Dilma Rousseff's hope of surviving a looming impeachment are becoming dimmer each day. On Monday, the Brazilian Bar association filed a new process to remove her from power on the grounds of accounting fraud. Yesterday, her party, PT, lost their largest ally in the Brazilian Congress as centrist party PMDB, presided by vice-president Michel Temer, withdrew their support [...]
Three reasons why Apple’s iPhone SE will be a smartphone hit March 31, 2016 Apple’s latest handset, the iPhone SE, will be unleashed this week upon a weary consumer. Why weary? Gartner figures show that global smartphone sales in Q4 2015 saw their slowest growth since 2008. Industry behemoth Apple hasn’t been immune with sales of its iPhone range starting to flat-line, currently growing at the slowest rate since the [...]
Five surprising facts about London’s shoppers March 31, 2016 As the spring sun slowly crawls up the Thames and warms up London’s cold streets, people are emerging from their winter cocoons to embark on some springtime shopping. The longer, brighter and warmer days all make for happier and more comfortable trips to Oxford Street, Brick Lane and Westfield. But who is really making their flexible friend work [...]
Join City A.M. for a live mayoral debate clash March 31, 2016 There's no doubt about it, London’s mayoral election campaign is getting dirty. The two leading candidates, Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Tory Zac Goldsmith are trading blows on everything from funding pledges to character attacks. When it comes to policy, one of the central debates can be found on the age-old battleground of London politics: transport fares. [...]