Virgin to fight franchise loss August 12, 2012 VIRGIN Trains is preparing to mount a legal challenge to its expected loss of the West Coast main line franchise this week. The Department for Transport is ready to announce as soon as tomorrow that FirstGroup has won the £6bn-plus franchise, which will run from December 2012 to March 2026. Virgin Trains has run the [...]
Italian airline Wind Jet stops flights August 12, 2012 Italian low-cost airline Wind Jet yesterday halted all of its flights, after fellow carrier Alitalia pulled out of a rescue deal. Wind Jet customers can transfer their tickets to other airlines including Alitalia providing they pay a surcharge, Italy’s civil aviation body ENAC said over the weekend. However, there were reports of stranded passengers in [...]
David Weinstein to join Cherie fund August 12, 2012 Former Fidelity Investments senior executive David Weinstein has signed up to Cherie Blair’s private equity healthcare venture the Allele Fund. Weinstein, who served as chief of administration at Fidelity during his 24 years at the asset manager, will be on the advisory board as Blair attempts to raise £75m to build 100 private health centres [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 12, 2012 Amor Group The business technology solutions company has appointed Joe Harley as a strategic adviser. He retired from the Civil Service earlier this year, and was most recently the UK Government chief information officer, and also served as chief information officer at the Department of Work and Pensions. Harley will also sit on Amor’s board [...]
BEST of the BROKERS August 12, 2012 CINEWORLD Numis rates the cinema group as “add” with a target price of 240p and expects a 10 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £13.6m when it posts half-year results on Thursday, based on a 4.1 per cent boost to box office revenue. HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS Shore Capital rates the pharma group as a “buy” [...]
LONDON REPORT August 12, 2012 STANDARD Life is set to end the life insurance reporting season tomorrow, following a solid first quarter where assets under administration rose more than expected. The Edinburgh group is hoping for a boost soon from auto-enrolment, where employees will be automatically enrolled into their existing employers’ pension scheme or a new personal account. It is [...]
WALL ST THE WEEK AHEAD August 12, 2012 IT’S another one of those moments that always follow a big move in the stock market: Either you’re a believer – or you’re not. Right now, the market has its fair share of both. The S&P 500 is up 12 per cent so far this year. Through July, it had its best first seven months [...]
Battle of the cabs: Hailing competition in London’s transport August 12, 2012 WHEN I lived in Monaco, I had Ferraris. Now, living in London, I have a basic car but barely use it. The hassle of parking and traffic have made me a cab and minicab user, and I’ve recently noticed interesting things going on in their business world. Cabs have had two unique selling points. Unlike [...]
Success and failure: The line is very fine August 12, 2012 THE road to success is not only long and winding, but it can also be rather rocky. There are always obstacles to trip you up along the way – and many are outside of your control. Consider the example of London businesses selling bicycles. When the Mayor of London launched his eponymous Boris bikes with [...]
London 2012 must be the starting gun in a race for a stronger Britain August 12, 2012 WITH the closing ceremony bringing the stupendously successful Olympic Games to an end, we should recognise what the Games has taught us about our national character. The Games have taught us something about ourselves that we never dared believe. The combined power of the British people, who embraced the Games, and our Olympians who have [...]
