M&S hires Lloyds director to board December 17, 2013 Marks and Spencer has hired Alison Brittain, one of the most senior women in the banking industry, as a non-executive director. Brittain, who is currently head of retail banking at Lloyds, will help bring her experience of running one of the UK’s biggest branch networks to the group, which has suffered a decline in clothing [...]
High street retail sales catch chill December 17, 2013 High street stores have failed to win over consumers’ wallets so far this month, according to figures released yesterday by BDO, which shows a decline in sales. Like-for-like retail sales fell by 2.6 per cent year-on-year during the first two weeks of December, driven primarily by a 4.5 per cent drop in fashion sales, according [...]
Betfred performing well all-round December 17, 2013 Betfred, the high street bookmaker that bought the state-owned Tote business in 2011, yesterday reported a 19 per cent rise in turnover to £8bn during the year to 31 March. “Our estate of 1,375 betting shops is performing well and we are making great strides in improving and enhancing our online and mobile offerings,” said [...]
Goldsmith tells the PM to come clean on airports December 17, 2013 CONSERVATIVE MP and anti-Heathrow campaigner Zac Goldsmith has accused David Cameron of “cynical PR” over plans to expand Heathrow airport. Goldsmith warned that voters would never forgive him if the Prime Minister’s manifesto commitment to halt any expansion at the airport in west London turned out to be hot air. “All three leaders are going to [...]
The hub formerly known as Boris Island gets another bite December 17, 2013 THE DECISION to keep the Thames Estuary hub in the running was the type of move by the Airports Commission that was once derided by Boris Johnson as “fudge-o-rama”. The independent panel said it had failed to make up its mind on whether to shortlist the proposal, more commonly known as Boris Island, and has [...]
Short-term fixes could prevent stacking planes above London December 17, 2013 BEFORE the first new runway is built, several airports will already be facing capacity shortages, and the Davies Commission yesterday outlined its preferred measures to make do and mend. Airspace rules could be changed to prevent circling over London while waiting to land, Davies said, ending the practice of stacking planes and making landing patterns [...]
Businesses calling for action sooner December 17, 2013 BUSINESSES have renewed their call for faster action on airport expansion as the coalition pledged to wait for the final results of the Davies Commission in 2015 before starting to work on a new runway. “[A]s the business community knows from experience, our airports simply don’t have enough capacity. Howard Davies has done the country [...]
Stansted says it will keep growing despite Davies thumbs down December 17, 2013 STANSTED executives were stoic yesterday after the airport was left off the shortlist for a new runway. The airport, which was taken over by Manchester Airports Group in February, had set out plans to build a second runway – and Boris Johnson had talked up the site’s prospects as a five-runway hub. However, Sir Howard [...]
The most imaginative Boris Island December 17, 2013 POOR Boris. Sir Howard Davies all but ruled out the chances of his estuary airport hub ever seeing the light of the runway yesterday – describing it as “imaginative” but giving expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick the green light in his report. Taking these sentiments a step further, comedian David Schneider tweeted this picture of [...]
At home with Jamie Dimon: The JP Morgan boss shows us his backhand in this panoramic family-packed Christmas card December 17, 2013 LAST week we revelled in political Christmas cards; the good, the bad and the er, down right weird (yes, you, Godfrey Bloom). Today we bring you corporate Christmas cards US style – in the form of JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon’s card. And what a card it is. Not content with using one side of a [...]
