Savills move for Hewitt ends male monopoly June 24, 2014 Savills, one of the world’s largest real estate companies, yesterday appointed Liz Hewitt as an independent non-executive director. In doing so, Savills brought an end to the male monopoly in its boardroom. Hewitt is non-executive director of Melrose Industries, Novo Nordisk A/S and Synergy Health and has experience at two FTSE 100 companies.
Tate & Lyle names PepsiCo exec Nick Hampton as finance chief June 24, 2014 Sweetner giant Tate & Lyle said yesterday it had hired PepsiCo executive Nick Hampton as its new chief financial officer. Hampton has been at PepsiCo for more than 20 years and was most recently the food and drink company’s president of west Europe. He will take over from Tim Lodge at the beginning of September.
Walgreen’s earnings grow but questions raised on Boots buyout June 24, 2014 US HIGH street chemists Walgreen, which owns 45 per cent of UK rival Alliance Boots, yesterday announced a 16 per cent jump in quarterly earnings, though it missed Wall Street’s expectations. Walgreen, which paid $6.7bn (£3.95bn) for its share of Boots in 2012, said the results were aided in part by a lower income tax [...]
Thomas Cook to lease military refuelling plane for long-hauls June 24, 2014 CHARTER airline Thomas Cook yesterday announced a deal to lease a military transport-refuelling aircraft for its long-haul flights from Glasgow, Manchester and Stansted to Cancun, Las Vegas and Orlando. The airline will lease the A330-200, which was used to ferry British troops to and from Afghanistan, from May on a three-year deal. AirTanker, the British [...]
Suntory wants Niinami president June 24, 2014 Japanese brewer and distiller Suntory is looking to hire Harvard educated Takeshi Niinami as president, the first time the 115-year-old company has looked outside members of its founding family for the job. Suntory, famous for its Yamazaki whisky, is looking to expand globally, having bought US drinks company Beam for $16bn recently. It hopes that [...]
Avon plans to cut 600 more jobs June 24, 2014 Door-to-door beauty products company Avon is to cut another 600 jobs, as part of its plans to slash costs and return the company to profitable growth. The cuts will mainly come from the corporate organisation and North American business, as Avon hopes to save $50-$55m annually by the cuts and other restructuring efforts. Chief executive [...]
Kenmare chairman to retire June 24, 2014 Justin Loasby, chairman of Irish mining company Kenmare Resources, is to retire with immediate effect because of ill health, the board announced yesterday. Steven McTiernan, a non-executive director of Kenmare, will take up the role of non-executive chairman to replace Loasby. McTiernan has over 40 years’ diverse natural resources industry and investment banking experience, including [...]
Best of the Brokers for 25 June 2014 June 24, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com AVIVA UBS has downgraded Aviva to “neutral” from “buy”, also cutting the target price to 524p from 570p. The broker believes that Aviva is no longer the compelling restructuring that a premium valuation deserves, with structurally lower reserve growth in its life insurance [...]
London Report: FTSE drops on worrying data on the economy June 24, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index slipped slightly yesterday, led lower by mining stocks, as signs of economic weakness in Europe and growing tension in Iraq made investors cautious. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.2 per cent, or 13.49 points, at 6,787.06 points following gains in early trade. The UK mining index, down 0.8 per cent, was [...]
New York Report: Dow suffers a triple-digit fall on Iraq fears June 24, 2014 US STOCKS had their biggest fall in over a month yesterday as early enthusiasm from economic data faded and concerns about the violence in Iraq gave investors a reason to sell and book some profits. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 119.13 points or 0.7 per cent, to end at 16,818.13 – its biggest drop [...]