Do not hang up, your call is very important to us April 15, 2012 GETTING to the airport only to find that your flight is cancelled is everyone’s worst nightmare. But when we become really hopping mad is trying to get through to the airline’s call centre for a refund. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that a new league table of the longest call centre queues names [...]
A right royal coronation for the next generation of Pearly kings April 15, 2012 DESCENDANTS of one of the original families to adopt the tradition will be among those crowned as Pearly kings and queens next month. The new royalty of the City of London, the City of Westminster and the London boroughs will be crowned at the Carpenters Arms, a classic East End pub, on 6 May. The [...]
Mystery pest bugs Tube staff April 15, 2012 NORTHERN LINE: be on the look out for mysterious bugs mounting “sustained attacks” on Tube drivers. The RMT has complained in its latest newsletter of “as yet unidentified insects” plaguing Northern Line drivers based mainly at Morden. Fumigation has done nothing to soothe the drivers’ itches, thunders the union, and a total of 12 incident [...]
Debate sparked by 140-letter Sentance April 15, 2012 HOLDING down the currency artificially is standard fare for politicians who want to give their country’s industries a competitive boost – China’s opponents in the US have long accused it of manipulating its currency to support economic growth, while the Fed has been accused of doing the same by printing money. Closer to home, the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 15, 2012 Irwin Mitchell The UK solicitor firm has appointed Denny Payton as partner in its motor team. Payton has been a solicitor for over nineteen years and has extensive experience working for major insurers, corporate fleets and brokers. Her focus is on delivering outsourcing services to international clients. DLA Piper Prakash Paran has joined the law [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 15, 2012 BURBERRY UBS rates the fashion brand “neutral” with a target price of £15.80. The broker expects constant currency sales growth of 16.5 per cent for the quarter when the firm reports tomorrow, down from 23.7 per cent in the rest of the financial year thanks to tougher comparatives. DEBENHAMS Deutsche Bank has a “hold” rating [...]
Wells Fargo profit rises April 13, 2012 Wells Fargo & Co reported higher first-quarter profits on Friday as the bank posted strong mortgage banking results and set aside less money for bad loans. Wells Fargo, the nation’s fourth-biggest US bank, said net income was $4.25bn, or 75 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $3.76bn, or 67 cents, a share in [...]
JP Morgan profit drops but beats forecasts April 13, 2012 JPMorgan Chase & Co’s first-quarter profit fell three per cent as recent recoveries in trading and deal-making failed to lift investment banking revenue to earlier levels. But results still beat Wall Street expectations. The biggest US bank by assets said on Friday that net income was $5.4bn (£3.3bn), or $1.31 a share, compared with $5.6bn [...]
VW sales drive forward April 13, 2012 Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, said group sales posted record gains in the first quarter thanks to increased demand from North America, Russia, and China. Total sales in March rose 12.5 per cent to a record 862,700. Sales of brands including luxury division Audi and Czech mass market manufacturer Skoda increased 9.6 per cent in the [...]
Daisy to buy Wordlwide for £28m April 13, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged down in early trading as investors digested data showing a slowdown of growth in China’s economy. Official figures released overnight showed that China’s economy grew at its slowest rate in almost three years. Gross domestic product increased by a rate of 8.1 per cent in the first quarter, down from 8.9 [...]