680 jobs cut as Barratts finds buyers January 15, 2012 BARRATTS PRICELESS, the collapsed shoe chain, is set to make another 680 people redundant after its founder and chief executive Michael Ziff agreed to rescue the majority of its stores. Administrators Deloitte said the existing management team had bought 89 Barratts and Priceless stores for an undisclosed sum, safeguarding 1,184 jobs. However, 39 shops and [...]
Law firm hires accountant to take it to stock market January 15, 2012 LITIGATION specialist Irwin Mitchell is believed to have hired ex-PwC vice chairman Glyn Barker as its new chairman, ensuring it has plenty of corporate firepower as it seeks to become the first UK law firm to seek a stock market listing. Irwin Mitchell is the biggest UK law firm so far to announce its intention [...]
Founder Walker moving ahead in race for Iceland January 15, 2012 RISING concerns over competition laws could clear the way for Iceland Foods founder Malcolm Walker to take control of the supermarket once again. Walker, the chief executive, has moved ahead in the race because Iceland is believed to be worried that a deal with another retailer would not be approved by the Competition Commission. Last [...]
Olympics boost for West End January 15, 2012 RETAIL sales are set to rise 3.5 per cent this year thanks to the Olympics and Jubilee, New West End Company predicted yesterday. Shopkeepers believe sales will hit £7.7bn in 2012 with the key events offsetting a slow start to the year. More than £2bn of sales is expected to come from luxury-seeking international shoppers [...]
Higher cost of crime hit shops January 15, 2012 ROBBERY, attacks on staff and verbal abuse all jumped in 2011, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey published today. The overall cost of retail crime jumped 31 per cent to £1.4bn on the year and the number of robberies increased by 20 per cent. An average robbery now costs businesses £989, [...]
Banks welcome China-UK talks on forex trade January 15, 2012 TWO OF Britain’s biggest banks have welcomed government efforts to establish the City as the world’s biggest centre for trading China’s currency outside Hong Kong. Standard Chartered chief executive Peter Sands and his counterpart at HSBC, Stuart Gulliver, have both committed to send senior representatives to bi-annual lobbying meetings with the Bank of China, Barclays [...]
Shell closing its R&D unit in Cheshire January 15, 2012 SHELL is closing its research and development centre in Thornton, Cheshire and relocating 280 employees to other sites around the UK The company said none of the scientists currently based there will lose their jobs, but they will be moved to other UK sites in 2014. In a statement, Shell said: “Some of these positions [...]
Banks debate greater pay transparency January 15, 2012 BANKS are mulling an unprecedented level of transparency in the way they disclose directors’ pay that could pre-empt government moves to make it easier to understand their bonuses. An industry source at one of the UK’s big-four banks told City A.M. that some lenders are having animated debates about how can they defuse the row [...]
Wall St braced for bleak results January 15, 2012 SOME of Wall Street’s biggest banks are preparing to reveal a sharp decline in earnings for 2011 when they unveil results this week. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are all expected to say profits dropped last year as the Eurozone crisis caused bond and equity trading to dry up. Share [...]
Disciplinaries surge in finance January 15, 2012 THE number of disciplinary cases being brought against workers in the financial services sector has more than doubled in the past two years, according to new figures released today. Almost 2,200 employees performing “controlled functions” at FSA-authorised firms were disciplined in 2010 compared to 1,027 in 2008, in a sign that companies are responding to [...]
