The commercial property king who says the City is ready for take-off November 2, 2010 Land Securities’ chief executive leaps from behind his desk, bounding across his seventh floor office overlooking Trafalgar Square as he welcomes City A.M. – after years of stagnation, the country’s biggest property developer is on the move again – and it certainly seems to have put a spring in Francis Salway’s step. Last week, the FTSE [...]
Ryanair profit surges by 17 per cent November 1, 2010 Ryanair has reported a 17 per cent surge in first half net profit and upgraded its full-year earnings guidance. The low cost Irish airline now expects full-year net earnings to be in a range of 380m to 400m euros (£328m to £345.3m) compared with previous guidance of 350m to 375m euros. The rosier outlook comes [...]
Glass towers reflect new opportunities for the City October 31, 2010 LAST week was widely reported as a good news week for the City; two more skyscraper projects – British Land’s Cheesegrater and Land Securities’ Walkie Talkie – were revived and One New Change, the new jewel in the City’s retail offering, opened to huge fanfare and to huge crowds. All of this is of course [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AIA CHIEF FAVOURS ORGANIC GROWTH AIA will address questions about its growth by increasing profitability and expanding organically rather than by pursuing acquisitions, according to the chief executive of the $30bn Asian life assurer about to list in Hong Kong. Mark Tucker told the Financial Times that AIA, which is being sold by [...]
Restaurant Group profit surges September 2, 2010 The Restaurant Group – which owns Garfunkel’s, Chiquito, Frankie & Benny’s – yesterday reported an upturn in profit despite the ash cloud crisis which hit its airport concessions. It saw its pre-tax profit rise 13 per cent to £24.6m in the six months to July. The company raised its interim dividend ten per cent to [...]
Austerity Games can still be a triumph July 26, 2010 WHEN London last hosted the Olympic games, it was 1948. The Allies had won the war, but Britain’s rewards were still to come: food was still rationed; the capital’s streets looked like rows of broken teeth (post-war construction was but a dream); and there was quite simply no cash at all to spend on stadiums [...]
Ryanair to cut Dublin flights as passenger traffic declines July 8, 2010 IRISH airline Ryanair said it would cut its Dublin winter capacity by 15 per cent as passenger traffic falls, and again called for a tourist tax to be scrapped and airport charge increases to be reversed. Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier will cut its Dublin base to 12 aircraft from 14 aircraft this winter and will [...]
Ryanair to cut back winter capacity by 16pc in the UK June 29, 2010 RYANAIR is expecting to cut its UK winter capacity by 16 per cent, marking the largest cut it has made to its winter traffic. The Irish low budget airline blamed the government’s air passenger duty (APD) for damaging UK tourism and forcing it to make the cut. Chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday the airline [...]
Retailers warn tax hike threatens sales recovery June 22, 2010 RETAILERS yesterday warned the rise in VAT would dent a recovery on the High Street, but won an important concession by convincing the Treasury to delay its introduction until 4 January. Treasury sources said the chancellor had taken into account the “hoo hah” experienced by the industry when the last change in VAT was enacted almost [...]
Go hide away in the sun-drenched valleys of Jordan May 9, 2010 THE afternoon sun is browning our sweaty pink skin as we lie by the pool at Evason Ma’in, nudged between a massive yellowstone fortress-style hotel and a water-spewing rock face. Well, it may be all lemonade, glossy magazines, dramatic scenery and sun-tanning poolside, but just a few kilometres away on the Dead Sea’s south-east coast [...]