AAA-ratings are ready to go the way of the dodo January 16, 2012 THE downgrades of France and Austria on Friday followed by yesterday’s walloping of the European Financial Support Facility (EFSF) may have been widely anticipated, but that does not mean that they are irrelevant. After all, analysts have predicted the timings of seven of the last three sovereign downgrades. But more than anything this latest move [...]
Tom Aikens’ return is a hit January 16, 2012 Tom Aikens Restaurant 43 Elystan St, SW3 3NT T: 020 7584 2003 FOOD ***** SERVICE ***** ATMOSPHERE **** Cost per person without wine: £90 Popular culture can be a depressing economic barometer. In the 90s and early 2000s British music was all working-class swagger and barefaced ambition. It was a time when it didn’t seem [...]
Wine trade goes Burgundy mad January 16, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT Last week saw one of the English Wine Trade’s odd annual rituals, the Burgundy en primeur tastings. For a week, we all traipse around assorted grand venues, tasting samples of wines from the new vintage about to be released. In many cases the wines have not even been [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS January 16, 2012 MUDDY WATERS’ SON TO PLAY BOISDALE If you’re a fan of Chicago blues, head down to Boisdale at Canary Wharf (pictured left) on 28 January to see the closest thing to the legendary Muddy Waters: his eldest son Mud Morganfield. Muddy Waters was the founder of the Chicago electric blues sound and his son has [...]
ECB triples bond purchases January 16, 2012 The European Central Bank more than tripled its bond purchases last week to the highest level since late November, spending €3.77bn (£3.11bn) as a calm start to the New Year gave way to an intensification of the euro zone debt crisis. The ECB’s bond purchases face renewed scrutiny after Standard & Poor’s mass euro zone [...]
Greek PM promises no default January 16, 2012 Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has promised that his government will secure an agreement on restructuring its debt in time to avoid the country going bankrupt in late March. Greece needs a deal with the private sector, the EU and the IMF to avoid a disorderly default when €14.5bn (£12bn) of bond redemptions are due [...]
Alliance Boots revenue up 14pc January 16, 2012 Alliance Boots has announced 14.1 per cent growth in revenue for the third quarter compared to last year, driven by expansion in the firm’s pharmaceutical wholesale division. The company’s high street Boots stores also enjoyed a strong end to the year with like for like revenue up 4.1 per cent in the five weeks to [...]
FTSE slips as Eurozone downgrades sap confidence January 16, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged down in early trading as the Eurozone crisis sapped confidence with France losing its Triple A rating and Greece teetering on the brink of a disastrous default. Markets are now worried the Eurozone’s bailout fund, EFSF, might lose its Triple A rating after France, the fund’s second-largest guarantor, was stripped of [...]
Now Moody’s threatens France downgrade January 16, 2012 Ratings agency Moody’s said that France’s debt metrics and potential contingent liabilities were putting pressure on the stable outlook for the country’s Aaa credit rating and said it would update its position on France later this quarter. “The deterioration in debt metrics and the potential for further contingent liabilities to emerge are exerting pressure on [...]
Carnival sees $90m impact from cruise ship disaster January 16, 2012 Carnival Corp, the owner of the cruise ship that capsized off Italy’s west coast, said on Monday it estimated the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use alone to be around $90m (£58m). The group, which said it was providing the information due to financial disclosure rules, said it also anticipated further costs to [...]
