ITV’s Norman blocked from M&B by Lewis November 29, 2009 JOE LEWIS, the Tottenham Hotspur owner and billionaire currency trader, has blocked Archie Norman from being appointed as Mitchell & Butlers chairman. Norman, who hit the headlines earlier this month when he was nominated as ITV’s new chairman, had been in talks to head up the £1bn pub group, which owns the All Bar One [...]
Archant shot down by fall in advertising November 29, 2009 NORWICH-based publisher Archant made a pre-tax loss of £25.2m last year as the savage pullback in advertising spend hit its regional newspaper and magazine businesses. The company, which owns titles such as the Eastern Daily Press and the Islington Gazette, said the collapse in the housing market particularly affected property classifieds, which are usually lucrative. [...]
JPM Caz still leading FTSE adviser pack… November 29, 2009 BLUE-blooded City brokerage JP Morgan Cazenove is still proving its mettle as the City’s dominant corporate broking player, topping the adviser leaderboard again over the past quarter despite uncertainty caused by its imminent takeover by JP Morgan. The latest Hemscott adviser rankings guide, published today, shows that the firm advises a total of 240 broking [...]
… as it lays out plan for orderly redundancies November 29, 2009 JP MORGAN Cazenove has already set out proposals for an orderly redundancy process ahead of the completion of its takeover by JP Morgan early next year, in an attempt to calm jitters among staff fearing for their jobs. The blue-blooded City broker has posted documents on its internal website with details of the procedure, which [...]
EX-BANKER TO LAUNCH ART FUND VENTURE November 29, 2009 REGULAR readers may remember Nasser Azam, the former equities and derivatives trader at Merrill Lynch who swapped his high-flying City career for life as a humble artist. But it seems Azam has discovered a way to combine his twin passions, having just launched a new art investment fund called the Azam Collection. Actually, it isn’t [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK November 29, 2009 SOMEONE must have been rubbing their hands with glee when this group of friends popped up at the Buddha Bar recently. For not only did the extravagant group splash out on copious amounts of sushi and a range of decadent main courses – including Wagyu beef with Thai butter sauce, sesame tuna and sea bass [...]
Shock decline in profits for services firms November 29, 2009 HOPES that Britain’s services sector would pull the economy out of recession may be overdone, according to the latest Service Sector survey from the Confederation for British Industry (CBI), published today ahead of the sector’s purchasing manager’s index due on Thursday. Both professional and consumer services firms saw an unexpected drop in volumes and value [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: DO YOU EXPECT THE PMI TO SHOW STRONG GROWTH IN SERVICES IN NOVEMBER? November 29, 2009 HOWARD ARCHER IHS GLOBAL INSIGHTStronger business and financial sector activity is lifting services demand and output. In addition, there are indications that consumer spending on services may have bottomed out. However, the survey evidence currently needs to be treated with caution. DAVID PAGE INVESTECWe suspect that this month is likely to see a levelling off [...]
Selfridges to make 100m November 29, 2009 Selfridges, the London luxury department store group, is today expected to unveil profits of £100m in its 100th year as the store is buoyed by a surge of wealthy overseas shoppers taking advantage of the weak pound. The retailer, which also has stores in Manchester and Birmingham’s Bullring centre and plans to open another in [...]
New Look holds talks with raft of bankers ahead of IPO November 29, 2009 High street fashion chain New Look is ramping up plans for its possible £1.7bn stock market flotation next year and has met with a roster of heavyweight bankers. The budget fashion chain, owned by private equity firms Apax and Permira, is believed to have held a beauty parade of possible advisers including Deutsche Bank, Goldman [...]
