CITY VIEWS: HAS MARKS & SPENCER LOST ITS SPARK UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF SIR STUART ROSE? September 30, 2009 STEPHEN FOSTER CHAPMAN BATES“It’s a bit dated, the sort of place I’d expect my Mum to go. There are so many brands around that it’s hard for them to compete. I would only go there for a suit, not casual clothes. I still think of it as being good quality, but they seem scared of [...]
Web spend is outstripping TV adverts September 30, 2009 SPENDING on internet advertising in the UK grew by 4.6 per cent in the first half of 2009, outstripping television ad spend for the first time ever. According to the biannual report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), ad spend on the internet grew to £1.75bn, with the medium accounting for 23.5 per cent of [...]
LSE quits industry body to go it alone September 30, 2009 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is quitting the industry’s main European association as it seeks a free hand to lobby regulators mulling a crackdown on off-exchange trading at banks and dark pools. The LSE – Europe’s biggest stock market – will leave the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), which has been influential in the [...]
Chevron’s boss to stand down September 30, 2009 CHEVRON’S chairman and chief executive, Dave O’Reilly is standing down a the end of the year to be replaced by John Watson, the oil group announced yesterday. Watson, who became vice chairman of the second biggest US oil company in April, has been at Chevron for 29 years. He has been the group’s chief financial [...]
Harvey Nash profits halved September 30, 2009 RECRUITMENT and outsourcing firm Harvey Nash yesterday said its first-half pre-tax profits had fallen by more than 50 per cent as the economic downturn saw clients slash their demand for staff. Profits before tax fell to £1.8m, from £3.9m a year earlier, on flat revenues of £200m. The group said its UK revenue fell by [...]
Ernst &Young revenues rise despite crisis September 30, 2009 ERNST & YOUNG (E&Y), one of the Big Four accountancy firms, said it left its rivals in the dust in the 2008-9 year in terms of UK revenue growth. The smallest of the Big Four said UK revenues rose to £1.38bn – a 7.9 per cent gain on the £1.28bn revenues seen in the previous [...]
OFT levies 39.3m fine on recruiters September 30, 2009 SIX recruitment agencies have been fined for price fixing and forming a cartel, with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) slapping a penalty on market leader Hays equal to half its estimated 2009-10 net profit. The OFT imposed fines totalling £39.3m yesterday for breaching competition law. A week ago, the OFT handed out fines totalling [...]
Commerzbank stalls over unpaid bonuses lawsuit September 30, 2009 COMMERZBANK will not be able to delay indefinitely a lawsuit by former employees seeking bonuses they claim were guaranteed but withheld, a lawyer acting for the staff said. The bank yesterday said it had won a 28-day extension to prepare a defence against 72 employees of Dresdner Kleinwort, now part of the German bank, who [...]
UBS upbeat as Swiss regulator warns of curbs September 30, 2009 SWITZERLAND’S two global banks UBS and Credit Suisse may face tighter regulation than other domestic and international competitors, the country’s banking regulator FINMA said yesterday. But the bank hit back, as chief financial officer John Cryan said underlying performance was getting better. “I’m more bullish on UBS than I have been for a couple of [...]
Aer Lingus gets set for winter September 30, 2009 Aer Lingus caused a ruckus in the City yesterday, as the budget airline collared workers around London Bridge to take part in a snowball fight stunt. Unsuspecting City workers were pulled away from their lunch break to play in the fake snow, in a bid to advertise the airline’s winter flights. City staff were given [...]
