HOLIDAY AT HEATHROW June 22, 2009 THE world’s largest hotel group Intercontinental Hotels yesterday announced plans to create Europe’s biggest Holiday Inn Express at Heathrow’s T5. InterContinental Hotels has already started work on the site which will house a 300-room hotel to be completed by the 2012 Olympics, of which IHG is a sponsor.
CBI: UK faces a brain drain June 22, 2009 OVER a quarter of organisations plan to transfer work overseas because of the UK’s downturn, according to a survey out today by the CBI and recruitment expert Harvey Nash. Fears of a “brain drain” are rising as over half of bosses in the science, hi-tech and IT sectors reported they have either moved jobs overseas [...]
I believe we can become a country of entrepreneurs June 22, 2009 ONE of the biggest myths – and it is the size of the Wizard of Oz – is that there is job security. There is none, so get over it. It’s not that employers are bad, but just that no one can honestly promise job security in an ever globalising world, or in one where [...]
Over three quarters of investors trust politicians more than financial advisers June 22, 2009 OVER three quarters of investors believe financial intermediaries, such as client-facing advisers, are less trustworthy than politicians, according to a survey. Intermediaries are perceived as being untrustworthy and lacking knowledge, perhaps as a result of poor education by investment managers on complex products and risk management practices, according to the KPMG/Datamonitor study. “It is little [...]
Siemens sees green boost to order book June 22, 2009 GERMAN industrial conglomerate Siemens said it expects to win new orders of around €15bn (£12.7bn), mostly green projects, from economic stimulus programmes worldwide in the next three business years. Of that figure, €6bn would come from green technology contracts, “significantly” increasing revenues from the company’s environmental portfolio in the future. Nonetheless, Siemens still expected business [...]
NO SLOANE RANGERS AT LIBERTY June 22, 2009 LIBERTY of London, the iconic department store group, is to close its Sloane Street standalone store in Knightsbridge just 12 months after it opened, having received a “fabulous” offer for the lease. Liberty said an unnamed European fashion brand had offered it a £700,000 cash premium to take over the site.
Gazprom Neft reinstates the chief exec it replaced less than a week ago June 22, 2009 RUSSIAN oil and gas giant Gazprom yesterday did a U-turn over its plans for Aim-listed Sibir Energy, re-appointing Stuard Detmer as chief executive of the firm just days after replacing him with a candidate from its own legal team. Sibir said in a statement it had re-appointed Detmer at the request of the group’s oil [...]
How the Baker Street brigade are taking on the Big Four accountants June 22, 2009 YOU get the impression when you meet him that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward, wants a lot of things – and one of the first is a larger slice of the UK accounting pie. Michaels, at 42 the youngest person to lead the UK’s sixth-largest professional services business, was elected to [...]
Virgin seals 1.3bn deal on birthday June 22, 2009 VIRGIN ATLANTIC splashed out on its 25th birthday yesterday with a $2.1bn (£1.28bn) deal, saying it would take delivery of 10 new Airbus A330-300 aircraft between now and 2012. The birthday goodies will allow the airline to expand while it waits for the delivery of Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner. The planes, each seating up to [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 22, 2009 BELLWAYUBS upgraded Bellway to “buy” after its trading update confirms a stabilising market. The broker has factored in write-downs in 2010 of £54m, and has new earnings per shares estimates of 15.27p in 2009 and 1.19p in 2010. GO-AHEAD GROUPGo-Ahead’s pre-close update has shown the company to be on track for Royal Bank of Scotland’s [...]