Trust spring horse Lieutenant to come alive at Aintree again April 2, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS TODAY’S ACTION AT AINTREE THE Crabbie’s Grand National Festival has grown in stature over the past decade and with huge pots on offer you find that some trainers are willing to sacrifice a win at Cheltenham for a success at Aintree. For others a crack at both meetings is irresistible, but with [...]
Diakali can chase home The New One April 2, 2014 THERE were a few hard luck stories at Cheltenham last month and connections of The New One were left to ponder what might have been had their superstar hurdler not suffered interference when the ill-fated Our Conor fell. It is impossible to say that he would have definitely won, but he certainly would have been [...]
Osborne fumes at FCA blunder April 1, 2014 GEORGE Osborne piled pressure on the City watchdog yesterday, demanding to know how and why the carnage in insurance stocks was allowed to happen last Friday. His intervention came after the Financial Conduct Authority briefed a reporter on its probe of insurance products dating back to the 1970s – but only gave markets a full [...]
Marks & Spencer plans to open 250 new shops overseas April 1, 2014 MARKS & Spencer (M&S) is gunning for a 40 per cent boost in profits from international stores and hundreds of new outlets abroad in just three years, as the firm lays out a major expansion plan. Announced in Paris yesterday, the fresh strategy will mean a huge jump in the number of M&S stores outside [...]
Metso investor opposes Weir’s merger offer April 1, 2014 ENGINEERING firm Weir yesterday confirmed it had approached Metso with a merger plan, but one of the Finnish rock-crushing firm’s top investors has already threatened to scupper a deal. Glasgow-based Weir’s shares slipped on confirmation of the proposal, while shares in Metso soared by a fifth on hopes of a multi-billion pound tie-up. “Metso is [...]
Surprise departure for the boss of Heathrow Airport April 1, 2014 HEATHROW’S chief executive has announced his departure, after six years of steering the airport through expansion, rows with airlines and regulatory overhauls. Colin Matthews surprised the industry by revealing that he will step down after the new Terminal Two building opens this summer. No successor has been named. The airport has already employed headhunters to [...]
No more double standards: The FCA must be held to account April 1, 2014 HARDLY anybody has heard of the Roman poet Juvenal these days, which is a great shame. He was the first, as far as we know, to ask one of the central questions of political philosophy: “Who will guard the guardians?” He was rightly paranoid, arguing that someone must watch the watchmen, those who are entrusted [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 02 April 2014 April 1, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Plans for fracking on private land Exploration companies would be given powers to drill under privately owned land as part of government plans to kick-start Britain’s fracking industry. The coalition is working on proposals, to be included in the Queen’s Speech to change trespass laws to make it easier for companies to explore [...]
Bank’s reserves of forex not in world’s top 20 April 1, 2014 THE BANK of England holds less than one per cent of the foreign currency reserves raised around the world, and a far lower share than other central banks around the world, according to research released yesterday. A report on world financial markets by Deutsche Bank suggests that the UK had only $70bn (£42.1bn) in foreign [...]
Cable refuses to apologise over Royal Mail sale April 1, 2014 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable yesterday refused to apologise over the privatisation of Royal Mail despite mounting criticism that the postal operator had been sold off too cheaply. In a heated House of Commons debate, Cable said “the last thing” he intended to do was apologise and that taking a more aggressive approach on pricing would [...]
