Cameron’s selfie was not his first December 10, 2013 WE ALL love a good selfie. Selfies on a Friday night down the boozer, selfies wearing snazzy outfits, selfies with celebrities. Never one to shy away from jumping on a bandwagon, our very own Prime Minister has certainly proved himself to be quite the fan of the selfie in recent months. Yesterday’s photo op with [...]
Have you got space on the mantelpiece for these beauties? December 10, 2013 THERE was once a time when the only people who sent awkward family-portrait Christmas cards were your second cousins in Wisconsin, but the US tradition has made its way over here – and our politicians love it. This year Cameron opted for a classy, black and white number with a natural “oh you just caught [...]
Carpetright’s half-year profits worn thin by Netherlands arm December 10, 2013 WORSENING conditions in the Netherlands and volatile trading in the UK caused flooring specialist Carpetright to post a slump in first-half profits. The group already issued a profit warning in October alongside the shock news that chief executive Darren Shapland was stepping down with immediate effect just 18 months into the role. His departure saw [...]
House of Fraser in online drive December 10, 2013 HOUSE of Fraser has said its fast-growing online business and the launch of new technology in stores helped drive sales in the third quarter. Like-for-like sales edged up 0.8 per cent, taking like-for-like sales in the year to date up 2.5 per cent. Meanwhile online sales were up by 31 per cent. The retailer has [...]
Costa growth fuels sales rise at Whitbread December 10, 2013 THE RAPID expansion of Costa Coffee helped Whitbread deliver strong third quarter sales, the firm said yesterday, also citing improved trading across its restaurants business. The FTSE 100 company posted a 4.3 per cent jump in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 28 November – up from a 2.8 per cent rise in the [...]
Analyst Views: Did Whitbread’s update meet your expectations for the group? December 10, 2013 SIMON FRENCH | PANMURE GORDONThe actual trading performance was slightly ahead of expectations but Premier Inn’s revpar growth is lower than the revpar growth reported by the competitive set and the opening of new rooms has also slipped. Given lack of forecast upgrades … it’s not surprising that their shares fell back a bit [yesterday]. [...]
High spending Brits boost Tui Travel’s profits December 10, 2013 TUI TRAVEL posted better than expected profits yesterday thanks to strong sales of more expensive holidays to British and German customers. The travel operator behind Thomson and First Choice holiday brands posted a 13 per cent rise in underlying operating profit to £555m for the year to 30 September driven by the growing popularity of [...]
HSBC insists China focus remains after €470m sale to Santander December 10, 2013 SANTANDER, Spain’s largest bank, is to buy HSBC’s eight per cent stake in Bank of Shanghai, just as many international rivals are beginning to sell out of China. The Spanish giant said yesterday that the Bank of Shanghai deal also included a cooperation agreement, taking the value of its investment to €470m (£393m). Asia-focused HSBC [...]
Healthcare head quits 3i December 10, 2013 THERE’S no let-up in the amount of change going on at 3i, the private equity group, that is still being shaken up by chief executive and former Greenhill investment banker Simon Borrows. Yesterday it emerged that Denis Ribon, the global head of healthcare, has decided to leave to set up his own growth fund. Ribon [...]
Former government adviser Jacobi joins Weir Group board December 10, 2013 ENGINEERING firm Weir Group said it has hired Mary Jo Jacobi, a former adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, as a non-executive board director, as rumours of a £5.9bn takeover offer from General Electric sent its shares to the top of the FTSE 100 yesterday morning. Weir’s share price went up over 2.5 per cent [...]
