Desmond the cosy neighbour November 18, 2012 YOUVIEW chief executive Richard Halton may not have anticipated that moving into the Northern & Shell building would involve such frequent visits from the man who heads up one of the firm’s partners, and landlord of the building. The Capitalist hears that Desmond, who owns Channel 5, has taken advantage of the proximity, and often [...]
CBI’s Cridland calls for radical school reform November 18, 2012 THE UK needs comprehensive school reform, the country’s biggest business lobby said today, in order to boost long-term growth. Boosting educational achievement to match the standards in Finland and the best in Europe could add a percentage point to yearly GDP growth, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) claims, adding £8 trillion to the economy [...]
John Lewis enjoys bumper online sales ahead of Xmas November 18, 2012 JOHN LEWIS said online sales jumped by almost a third last week compared with the same time last year, as consumers turned to their computers and mobile devices to make their Christmas purchases. The department store group reported a 31 per cent year-on-year rise in online sales in the week to Saturday 17 November. John [...]
Billabong director mulls buy-out November 18, 2012 Australian surfwear chain Billabong International said yesterday one of its directors wanted to investigate a possible leveraged buyout of the firm. The retailer, which had potential buyers withdraw takeover offers last month, said Paul Naude would stand aside from his role as president of the Americas while he looked at putting together a buyout proposal. [...]
EU states act to plug defence gap November 18, 2012 European states will today take a step towards plugging a gap in their defences today by agreeing to work together to boost their air-to-air refuelling capacity, a major European shortcoming in last year’s Libyan war. A group of European Union countries will sign a “letter of intent” at an EU defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels [...]
David Cameron plans changes to the UK’s judicial review system November 18, 2012 DAVID Cameron will today announce plans to shake up the judicial review process to reduce delays to new developments and help build a “leaner, faster” government. The number of judicial review applications used to challenge a decision by a public body has jumped from 160 in 1975 to 11,200 last year. Only around one in [...]
Ed Miliband: reforming the EU will require building alliances November 18, 2012 ED MILIBAND will accuse the Prime Minister David Cameron of putting Britain’s national interest at stake by “sleepwalking to the EU exit door” in a speech to the CBI today. The Labour party leader will say that Cameron wants to stay in the EU but has his hands tied by Eurosceptics in his cabinet. He [...]
Nintendo puts Wii U on sale in bid to steal a march on rivals November 18, 2012 NINTENDO put its Wii U hardware on sale in the US yesterday, as the Japanese company aims to improve its fortunes after a difficult year. The Wii U, which features an innovative touchscreen controller, is the first of the next generation of machines, with new PlayStation and Xbox consoles due in the next two years. [...]
After years of setbacks it is time for YouView to face up to its rivals November 18, 2012 RICHARD Halton has not had an easy couple of years. Having taken the reins at YouView in September 2010 – the same year the internet-connected TV box was originally pencilled in to go on sale – he has had to deal with questions about project delays, criticism over the price of the hardware, and, last [...]
Rise of mobile search ads in UK hits Google November 18, 2012 SEARCH advertising is proving less lucrative as people use smartphones and tablets to browse the web, new research shows, in a blow to companies such as Google. Data from advertising management firm Marin Software, seen by City A.M., show that the price search engines can charge companies in the UK for a mobile advert is [...]