Marston’s to ring changes for landlords June 6, 2011 PUB company Marston’s has won approval from the British Franchise Association to changes its tenancy agreements, giving the group more influence over how individual landlords run its pubs. Marston’s has been offering its retail agreements to it tenants since 2006, with 230 of its 1,600 pubs now run under the scheme. The deals mean that [...]
WS Atkins sets out plan to tackle pension deficit June 6, 2011 ENGINEERING group WS Atkins has thrashed out a deal with its pension trustees to fill its £293m pension black hole over ten years. The firm will pay up to £32m a year in cash until 2020 to pay down the deficit, and is also in talks with 1,400 employees to cut the link between their [...]
Diageo ends SABMiller deal June 6, 2011 DIAGEO has agreed to buy the last 20 per cent stake in its Kenyan Breweries unit from SABMiller in a $225m (£137m) deal, as part of a wider plan to separate out the two firms’ ties in Africa. East African Breweries, Diageo’s African arm, is also selling its 20 per cent stake in SABMiller’s neighbouring [...]
Melrose sells Dynacast in £360m deal June 6, 2011 MANUFACTURING buyout firm Melrose said it agreed to sell its Dynacast business, which makes die-cast metal parts, for $590m (£360m) in cash to a company managed by private equity firm Kenner & Co. Melrose, which looks to buy underperforming industrial businesses and sell them after restructuring, said in March it planned to sell Dynacast and [...]
PARK LIFE: TEAM ABU DHABI RAISE THEIR GAME TO WIN MINT POLO June 6, 2011 TEAM Abu Dhabi are this year’s winners of the MINT Polo in the Park tournament at Hurlingham Park, after a fast-paced final against Gaucho Team Buenos Aires. Abu Dhabi took an early lead in the three-day event, starting with Friday’s match against defending champions City A.M. Team New York, where Piki Diaz Alberdi, Mohammed Al [...]
Russia’s Global Ports to raise $750m in London June 6, 2011 RUSSIA’S biggest freight terminal operator aims to list on the London Stock Exchange to raise up to $750m (£456m), it said yesterday. Global Ports Investments, which operates terminals in Russia and Finland, intends to float 25 per cent of its issued share capital. It will list $100m of new shares and an unspecified amount of [...]
TUI faces FTSE 100 exit June 6, 2011 TRAVEL firm TUI Travel may lose its blue chip status at the quarterly reshuffle of UK indices later this week, according to data from FTSE. Based on Friday’s closing share prices, TUI Travel is the only FTSE 100 stock at 111th position or below in the indices and, therefore, the only candidate for potential demotion [...]
Spending on high street sank in May June 6, 2011 HIGH street sales plunged back to earth last month, as consumers reined in their spending. April’s sunny weather and extra bank holidays had seen a bounce-back for the UK’s struggling retail sector, yet sales in May were down 2.1 per cent compared to the same time last year, on a like-for-like basis. Total sales, which [...]
Decline in new car sales starts to slow June 6, 2011 THE UK’s post-recession decline in car sales may be on the verge of bottoming out, according to data released yesterday. New car registrations recorded a fall for the 11th straight month in May – yet the 1.7 per cent annualised drop was the smallest since July of last year. The market is expected to stabilise [...]
One in five failing to save anything for retirement June 6, 2011 ONE in five workers are not saving anything at all towards their retirement, a survey revealed today. And nearly half of workers between 30 years-old and state pension age are failing to save adequately, according to the latest Scottish Widows index. “We need a step-change to overcome this ingrained inertia and help people prepare for [...]