BBC BEATS SUGAR BACK July 22, 2009 LORD Alan Sugar’s hit show The Apprentice could be rescheduled next year to avoid a clash with the general election, after the BBC Trust ruled that his government role poses a “greater than normal risk” to BBC impartiality. Sugar became Labour’s enterprise tsar last month and took his seat in the House of Lords earlier [...]
Pubs call time at record rate July 22, 2009 PUBS in Britain are closing at a record rate of 52 a week, costing 24,000 jobs over the past year, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) said yesterday. The new figures show that in the last 12 months alone 2,377 pubs have called time on their business. There are now 53,466 pubs in Britain, [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAVE YOU SEEN A DECLINE IN CITY PUB DRINKING IN THE DOWNTURN? July 22, 2009 RAQUEL FERNANDEZ ALIUM PARTNERS“I haven’t seen a difference – people probably feel like life is so difficult at the moment they deserve a drink. I’d say lunchtime drinking in the City is as prevalent as it always was, with people driving to secure more business. Perhaps after-work going out is slightly down, but that’s not [...]
NatExpress in new approach July 22, 2009 NATIONAL Express was thrown into fresh turmoil yesterday when the transport group said it received a second approach for the business less than an hour after rival FirstGroup walked away from a potential bid. The new suitor for the troubled bus and rail group is likely to be another trade buyer like Stagecoach, Go-Ahead or [...]
Lord Myners unfair to Bank of England July 22, 2009 SO Lord Myners, the City minister, believes the Bank of England to be too bookish, too rarefied almost, to take on the regulatory functions currently controlled by the Financial Services Authority. As he told us in an interview yesterday, he sees it as an academic institution imbued with a culture at odds with that required [...]
Magna looks set to win GM July 22, 2009 THE GERMAN government has swung behind a bid from Canadian firm Magna for GM Europe, the owner of Opel and Vauxhall, which is up for sale as its parent company GM looks to sell the division. Chancellor Angela Merkel said the offer from auto parts supplier Magna was the best solution, disappointing rival bidders RHJ [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 22, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES PORSCHE CHIEF AT RISK IN RESCUEPorsche’s feuding family owners were last night locked in a board meeting trying to hammer out the terms of a rescue of the debt-ridden sports car maker and debating the future of Wendelin Wiedeking, the company’s chief executive. One person close to Porsche said that the prospect of [...]
FTSE director pensions soar July 22, 2009 The UK’s largest companies are paying an average 70 per cent of executives’ pay to fund the final salary pensions of their top directors, making them much more expensive than the pensions of ordinary employees, said a new study published today. The report, from actuarial consultants Lane Clark & Peacock, is the first to look [...]
Iron ore pushes towards $100 July 22, 2009 The market price of iron ore is approaching $100 a tonne, above the levels at which miners and steelmakers have struck supply deals, as demand outside China recovers.The surge in spot prices has spurred several banks to forecast that annually set benchmark prices will rise next year, reversing their previous expectations of a fall in [...]
Ofwat to rule on water firms July 22, 2009 Water company investors are today bracing themselves for fresh pressure on dividends as the industry regulator Ofwat prepares to set caps on water bills paid by 26m households for the next five years starting from 2010.
