TRAVEL NOTES April 18, 2010 A Marathon treat in Mayfair As you pelt towards the finish line of the Marathon on 24 April, it might spur you on if you know your next 24 hours will be spent in the lap of luxury at Dukes, the nearest hotel to the finish line. The hotel is offering a high-carb dinner and [...]
Laird cuts payout on profit fall March 10, 2010 Electronics group Laird yesterday posted a 56 per cent fall in 2009 profits and cut its dividend after a year in which customer demand slumped and it was forced to carry out a rights issue. The FTSE 250 firm, which supplies companies such as Samsung and Nokia, reported underlying pre-tax profit from continuing operations of [...]
Public turns against Kraft over Cadbury deal February 16, 2010 Peter Mandelson has expressed his “disappointment” at the manner of Kraft’s take-over of Cadbury, and the public, as measured by BrandIndex, seems to agree. Graph one shows what has happened to perceptions of the Kraft and Cadbury brands – measured as the proportion that are positive out of all those with a view, here with [...]
SPITALFIELDS MARKET: SEEKING OZ CLARKE OF THE REAL ALE SCENE May 12, 2010 REMEMBER that cushy job as a caretaker of a desert island that caused such a stir when it was advertised a year or so back? Well, The Capitalist might just have discovered an even more covetable role – at least for the beer-loving socialites of the City. Old Spitalfields Market is looking for someone to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 21, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FIAT TO SPIN OFF NON-CAR DIVISIONS Fiat is to demerge its non-automotive divisions from its core carmaking business in a watershed moment for the 111-year-old Italian industrial group. The spin-off will see Fiat’s Iveco trucks, Case New Holland farming and construction equipment, and industrial and marine engines divisions split off from its Fiat, [...]
ARM men sell £8.5m shares February 15, 2010 SENIOR figures at ARM Holdings, the Cambridge-based microprocessor designer, have cashed out £8.5m worth of shares after the stock soared on speculation its technology is used in Apple’s new iPad. Chief executive Warren East raised £1.8m by selling 937,000 shares last week, leaving him with around 1m shares. Other members reducing their stakes included finance [...]
Mobile firms unite to offer apps platform February 15, 2010 A GROUP of 24 telecom companies are clubbing together to build a mobile phone application platform in a bid to compete with Apple. The alliance – which includes O2, Orange and Vodafone – is hoping that its combined customer base of 3bn will allow it to steal market share from Apple’s App Store. Mobile applications [...]
Sony returns to profit after cutting costs February 4, 2010 Sony’S first profit in five quarters yesterday showed a restructuring at the electronics maker is starting to pay off as it halved its annual loss forecast on a rebound in its flat-TV business and cost cuts. Third quarter to December profit was also driven by its insurance division, whose investments were buoyed by a recovery [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ALARM WAS RAISED ON LEHMAN Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve officials were warned by a leading Wall Street rival that Lehman Brothers was incorrectly calculating a key measure of its financial health months before its collapse in 2008, people familiar with the matter say. Former Merrill Lynch officials said they contacted [...]
Apple leads the way on mobile phone design February 17, 2010 Apple is casting a long shadow over this year’s Mobile World Congress. The iPhone maker isn’t in attendance – it is far too cool for an annual trade fair – but its name is still on everyone’s lips. For a firm that has just 2.5 per cent of the mobile handset market, its ability to [...]