Former BP boss plans new firm February 26, 2012 Former BP chief executive Lord Browne of Madingley is understood to be planning to launch a giant new North Sea oil company. Browne, who runs the European arm of American investment fund Riverstone, is reportedly negotiating with Fairfield Energy, which is a North Sea producer controlled by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
Harvey Nichols opening in Kuwait February 26, 2012 British luxury fashion retailer Harvey Nichols is set to open a store in Kuwait City – its seventh venture outside the UK and Ireland. The company said it will be in The Avenues Mall, the largest shopping destination in Kuwait and spread across two floors and 10,000 square metres of retail space. The opening in [...]
Petrobras CEO: fuel price to rise February 26, 2012 The new chief executive of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras, Maria das Gracas Foster, said the company needs to raise fuel prices to keep in step with higher oil prices, while maintaining the practice of buffering pump prices to shield consumers from volatility. He was speaking to Brazil’s Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.
Act of Valor triumphs February 26, 2012 Military drama “Act of Valor” won the battle of the box office over the weekend, with $24.7m (£15.6m) in US and Canadian sales, studio estimates released yesterday showed. Second place went to Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds”, which rung up $16m at north American theatres from Friday to yesterday. In third place was “Journey 2: The [...]
Report: Iran denies Greece oil February 26, 2012 Iran has refused to give Greece a shipment of 500,000 barrels of crude oil in a retaliatory measure against European Union sanctions on the Islamic state’s lifeblood, oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reported yesterday. “Oil tankers that had come to transfer 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil to a refinery in Greece had to go [...]
OPERATIC DUET FOR MITIE BOSS AND HUBBY February 26, 2012 WHAT connects Mitie, the FTSE 250 support services company, with opera? It isn’t just that Mitie is responsible for managing the facilities at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The £19m contract, which sees Mitie providing cleaning and security services to the 2,256-seater venue, is certainly important to chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith – but [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 26, 2012 Pace Pace has appointed Roddy Murray as its new chief financial officer as part of chairman Allan Leighton’s overhaul of the ailing set TV top-box maker. The firm, which issued a string of profit warnings last year, said Murray will take over from Stuart Hall on 6 March, who is leaving after five years in [...]
House prices flat as Britons stuck renting February 26, 2012 HALF of Britons do not expect to buy a house until they are in their forties, a survey showed today, while the housing market stayed flat again through February. Average rents rose to £890 per month at the end of 2011, but 61 per cent of renters cannot afford to buy, according to a survey [...]
Businesses warn government not to scare off talented international workers February 26, 2012 GOVERNMENT plans to introduce a wage-based limit on migrants settling in the UK risks damaging Britain’s attractiveness to important workers, business groups have warned. The Home Office wants new rules, which will only allow non-EU immigrants earning over £35,000 to settle here, and limit the time foreign household staff can stay in the UK. However, [...]
IT industry sees signs of growth as hiring intentions hit new high February 26, 2012 PROSPECTS for pay in the IT industry are their brightest since the pre-recession years, according to a survey out today, indicating the worst may be over for the industry. The ReThink IT survey found 59 per cent of directors in the industry expect salaries for staff to rise in the year ahead, up from 47 [...]
