Unions ask for guarantees as Kraft readies bid documents November 30, 2009 A UNION representing workers at confectioner Cadbury yesterday asked hostile bidder Kraft for a promise on employment security, saying it was increasingly worried about “massive job losses”. Unite, Britain’s biggest union, said it had written to Kraft chief executive Irene Rosenfeld about the £10bn cash-and-shares bid and asked for commitments there would be no compulsory [...]
SEASONAL THOUGHTS FROM THE CITY GIRL November 30, 2009 As 2009 comes to a close, City folk are craving a bit of fun. After being forced to keep their heads down all year amid the misery, bailouts and chaos, most bankers I know are desperate to let their hair down, get drunk and embarrass themselves. One of the things I miss most about the [...]
M&B asks Panel for help with its rebels November 30, 2009 THE scale of the turmoil at Mitchells & Butlers became clear yesterday after the pubs group asked the City takeover watchdog to decide whether rebel shareholders were attempting to seize control of its board. M&B called on the Takeover Panel after Bahamas-based billionaire Joe Lewis, who controls 23 per cent of the group, blocked the [...]
C&C quenches its thirst with a cider acquisition spree November 30, 2009 IRISH drinks group C&C yesterday said it had acquired the UK cider assets of Constellation Brands – including Blackthorn, Olde English and Gaymer – for £45m in cash. C&C chief executive John Dunsmore said the price of the assets was “highly attractive”, while analysts said the deal handed the company a third of the UK [...]
WESTFIELD CHEERS GERONIMO November 30, 2009 GERONIMO INNS, the London-focused pub chain, yesterday opened the first pub inside Westfield shopping centre. Geronimo has ploughed £800,000 into its new The Bull site, which seats 130 people over two floors and will create 30 jobs. Geronimo currently has 28 pubs in its portfolio.
More jobs axed at GM’s UK arm November 30, 2009 Vauxhall is set to cut more than 350 jobs at one of its two factories in the UK. “As part of the consultation process commenced… last week, the GM manufacturing facility in Luton has now begun its own period of consultation between unions and local management,” it said yesterday. Jobs will go at Luton “to [...]
RHJ’s profit is up on one-offs November 30, 2009 Belgian holding company RHJ International reported a narrower first-half operating loss yesterday, and a rare net profit due to one-off gains from industrial activities it ultimately plans to divest. RHJ, which last month announced a £225m purchase of Commerzbank’s wealth management unit Kleinwort Benson, said its first-half operating loss excluding impairment charges was £28m, a [...]
Bank reports a rise in home loan approvals November 30, 2009 HOME loan approvals rose in October to a 19-month high as the housing market showed signs of recovery. Banks approved 57,345 mortgages in October against 56,205 in September, the highest since March 2008 and the 11th monthly rise in a row, the Bank of England said. Net mortgage lending rose by £922m in October versus [...]
British consumers repay record amount of debt November 30, 2009 BRITISH consumers paid back a record amount of unsecured debt in October according to the Bank of England, which reported yesterday that net consumer credit fell by a record £579m in October. This marked the largest monthly fall since records began in 1993 and was the fourth monthly repayment in a row. City economists had [...]
Money supply weakens November 30, 2009 The supply of money in the UK economy rose in October by 1.6 per cent on the previous month on the broad M4 measure. But the annual growth rates slowed and the Bank of England’s preferred measure of the money supply (which excludes intermediate financial companies)?showed a 0.7 per cent drop, following a similar fall [...]
