Oops…Labour party officials struggle to get on first-name terms with supporters, while former deputy leader Harriet Harman fails to name top EU officials May 22, 2016 Labour MP Sadiq Khan may have won London voters over this month with his relateable back-story, but the rest of the party is struggling to get on first-name terms with its members. Labour members were riled on Sunday after the party sent out an email asking voters to support its campaign to keep Britain in the EU. Read [...]
Stock Spirits goes head-to-head with rebel shareholders, led by Western Gate Private Investments’ Luis Amaral, at AGM May 22, 2016 The board of European drinks firm Stock Spirits will face rebel investors seeking boardroom and strategy changes at its annual general meeting (AGM) tomorrow. Western Gate Private Investments, led by Portuguese cash-and-carry tycoon Luis Amaral, has nominated two non-executive directors – Alberto da Ponte and Randy Pankevicz – to be admitted to the board and has also tabled [...]
A water-only cocktail bar is opening in Selfridges later this year May 22, 2016 Good news for teetotalers with expensive tastes. As the oil and gas industry endured tough times earlier this year, the media was rife with speculation that petrol, which fell to 86p per litre in January, could become cheaper than water. Now that Brent crude prices are recovering, with barrels valued at close to $50 (£34.46), [...]
Former Barclays banker tells court that bosses must have known about Libor fixes May 22, 2016 A former Barclays trader who is currently standing trial accused of Libor-rigging related offences told the court late last week that three senior figures at the bank must have known about the rate fixing. Jay Merchant, along with fellow former traders Stylianos Contogoulas, Alex Pabon and Ryan Reich and one of Barclays' former Libor submitters Jonathan Mathew, [...]
Megabrew: AB InBev brews sale of SABMiller European beer brands Pilsner and Lech May 22, 2016 Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is expected to put most of SABMiller's remaining European drinks offering up for sale this week in a £5bn auction. AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, is set to sell SABMiller's Central and Eastern European brands in order to pave the way for its megabrew merger with the British drinks giant, reported [...]
SME overdrafts fall off as banks adhere to new rules May 22, 2016 LENDING to small businesses via overdrafts is falling by £100m a month as SME bank overdrafts die out, says Funding Options, the online business finance supermarket. At the end of March this year, SMEs were borrowing £12.1bn in bank overdrafts, compared to nearly £14bn at the end of September 2014, a fall of 13 per [...]
Big tobacco firms aim to stub out new plain packaging laws via appeal May 22, 2016 Two of the big four tobacco companies are set to launch an appeal in the coming weeks against last Thursday's High Court ruling that paved the way for new plain packaging laws on cigarette boxes. Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) have both said they will appeal against the High Court's decision [...]
Chappell facing High Court BHS suit May 22, 2016 Administrators for BHS are to launch a High Court suit against the retail chain's former backer. City A.M. understands that Duff & Phelps will file a suit on Monday, targeting Dominic Chappell and arguing that the businessman has not co-operated with its investigation into the retailer's collapse. Chappell owns a 90 per cent stake in Retail [...]
Shard Capital boss puts brokers off their vol-au-vents with blistering speech ahead of fifth birthday dinner May 22, 2016 A very happy birthday to the brokers at Shard Capital – the firm celebrated its fifth anniversary with a glittering bash at the Tower of London last weekend. The Capitalist is told spirits were high – but it seems that chief executive James Lewis may have put his partners off their vol-au-vents ahead of the big night. [...]
Now it’s the advisers’ turn to be grilled by MPs over BHS collapse May 22, 2016 The topic of the BHS collapse will be heading back into parliament tomorrow, with a string of advisers from top law and accountancy firms due to be grilled by MPs. Ian Greenstreet, partner at Nabarro, Tony Clare, partner at Deloitte, David Clarke, partner at KPMG, Richard Cousins and Steve Denison, both partners at PwC, Emma King, partner at Eversheds and Owen [...]