Ex-Standard Chartered boss Lord Davies joins $78bn PineBridge September 7, 2010 FORMER Standard Chartered head Lord Davies has taken his second non-executive job since leaving government by agreeing to chair New York-based asset manager PineBridge. Davies joined the firm last month. Although he will continue to work from the UK, the banking veteran will deploy his considerable contacts in the Far East to advise PineBridge on [...]
Commodities drive surge in food inflation September 7, 2010 FOOD price inflation surged to its highest level in more than a year as rising commodity prices fed through into the supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today. The BRC’s monthly shop price index shows that annual food inflation increased to 3.8 per cent in August from 2.5 per cent in July, the [...]
Growth in UK jobs weakens as doubts over recovery hit September 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S struggling job market continued to suffer in August with the number of permanent appointments rising at the slowest rate since October 2009, against a gloomy backdrop of public sector layoffs and downbeat business confidence. The monthly survey conducted by professional services firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed that the number [...]
Fears of an economic slowdown after German factory orders drop September 7, 2010 GERMAN factory orders unexpectedly plummeted in July, raising fears of a slowdown in Europe’s largest economy, which rebounded sharply in the second quarter. Official data published yesterday showed that orders fell 2.2 per cent on June, the sharpest monthly drop since February 2009. But they are still up 18 per cent on a year earlier. [...]
De La Rue to take £35m hit from note slip September 7, 2010 CURRENCY printer De La Rue faces a hit of at least £35m to first-half profit and a possible fraud investigation following the falsification of banknote quality certificates by staff. Updating on its investigation into production errors at its banknote plant in southern England the firm said yesterday the behaviour of some of its staff was [...]
Google set to offer TV service in the US September 7, 2010 GOOGLE will launch its service to bring the web to TV screens in the United States this autumn and worldwide next year, its chief executive Eric Schmidt, said, as it extends its reach from the desktop to the living room. Schmidt said the service, which will allow full Internet browsing via the television, would be [...]
BofA bolsters M&A team after poaching Nomura rainmaker September 7, 2010 ADRIAN MEE, head of European mergers and acquisitions at Nomura and one of the bank’s key rainmakers, has quit the Japanese investment bank to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoA). The move will come as a blow to Nomura which has suffered a series of high-profile defections just two years after acquiring the European [...]
Ocado sales surge but investors wary September 7, 2010 ONLINE retailer Ocado yesterday said its sales had surged by almost 30 per cent – but investors remained unconvinced and the announcement was greeted with a dip in its share price. The company, which recently completed a controversial flotation, hasn’t made an annual operating profit since it launched ten years ago, but hopes to go [...]
Whitbread given a lift by Premier Inn business travellers September 7, 2010 WHITBREAD yesterday reported a 14 per cent sales surge across the group – fuelled by a return of business travellers to its Premier Inns and the growth of Costa Coffee. Premier Inn like-for-like sales were 10.7 per cent higher in the 24 weeks to 19 August, while Costa’s like-for-like sales in the quarter jumped another [...]
Ocado September 7, 2010 OCADO chiefs were yesterday upbeat about the company’s prospects and had seemingly justifiable reasons for optimism with an almost 30 per cent sales hike. But the figures cannot be looked at in isolation and come on the back of a torrid flotation which saw chief executive Tim Steiner and crew pitched against some analysts who [...]
