Profits spike at Kingfisher September 8, 2009 KINGFISHER, Europe’s largest home improvement retail group, yesterday rushed out first-half profit figures following an administrative error, though the better-than-expected results cheered investors and sent its shares to a two-year high. The group, which owns B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said it expects to report an underlying pre-tax profit of between £285m and [...]
Burberry set to join FTSE100 September 7, 2009 High-end fashion retailer Burberry is set to ascend to the benchmark FTSE 100 index of blue chip companies. The group, which listed on markets four years ago, is to join the top stock list after Thomson Reuters decided to remove its listing on the London stock market.
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 6, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphG20 WILL CURB BANK BONUSESBonuses for bankers throughout the Western world will for the first time be subject to limits and checks as soon as next year after the G20 pledged to embark on an international crackdown on financiers’ pay. Banks will have caps imposed on the size of the bonus pot [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 6, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopersThe accountancy firm has appointed Marco Amitrano to lead its UK risk assurance business.Amitrano, 39, joined the firm in 1992, and worked first in Newcastle and then for three years in the Chicago office. Most recently, he has had responsibility for all of the firm’s audit and related services to the UK subsidiaries of global [...]
Six myths about the financial crisis September 6, 2009 A comfortable, corporatist consensus is building up about how to deal with the financial crisis. Led by Alistair Darling and his French and German counterparts at the G20 finance ministers’ summit on the weekend, this consensus is essentially that the financial crisis “proves” that global free market capitalism has “failed” and that everything is the [...]
Calzedonia swoops on undie store September 2, 2009 ITALIAN fashion company Calzedonia yesterday bought its flagship London underwear store Tezenis from landlords Great Capital Partnership for £22.9m. The Spirella House store, on the busy shopping corner of Regents Street and Oxford street, was sold at a price 12.5 per cent above its March 2009 book value. It comprises a retail unit over three [...]
Why Boris is right to fight for the City September 2, 2009 WHENEVER there is a crisis, certain sections of the British establishment revert to type. Rather than vowing to fight back and rebuild our shattered economy, many senior figures have evidently decided that the best we can hope for is to manage decline, post-war style. In a dynamic, forward-looking, optimistic nation, we would be debating how [...]
Apple’s store on Regent St bears fruit September 1, 2009 APPLE’S flagship store in London is so successful that it rakes in more than double the amount of cash per square foot than most of its rivals. The Regent Street store took £60m for the year ending September 2008, giving it a sales density of £2,000 per square foot. In comparison, the average Currys store [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 31, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopersThe accountancy giant has appointed Nick Secrett to its pensions capital management team, which was launched at the end of last year and is headed up by partner Chris Massey. “Secrett has a wealth of capital markets expertise and will work with our clients to model and control their pension financing and investment risks,” said [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 20, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES UNIVERSAL MUSIC LICENSES SINATRA RIGHTSUniversal Music has secured the international rights to 38 albums recorded by Frank Sinatra, heralding an acceleration of plans to commercialise the entertainer’s estate on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the release of My Way. GAP PROFITS SLIP IN SECOND QUARTERGap, the US specialty clothing retailer, said [...]