Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary to seek CMA damages as Irish government gets green light May 17, 2015 Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary was fighting a rearguard battle with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over the weekend as he sought to maintain his firm’s stake in Aer Lingus. The threat from O’Leary to seek damages from the regulator, made in the Telegraph, is the latest salvo in the long-running dispute. O’Leary has maintained [...]
Palatine orders up £13m buyout of cocktail chain The Alchemist May 17, 2015 Upmarket cocktail chain The Alchemist has said it is planning to gobble up more sites across the UK after completing a £13m management buyout backed by Palatine Private Equity. The Alchemist, which first opened its doors in Manchester in 2010, runs two venues in the city centre as well as sites in Leeds and in [...]
Turnover across UK restaurants reaches £21.6bn May 17, 2015 The turnover of Britain’s restaurant industry has risen by 39 per cent since the recession thanks to a wave of new start-ups and the growth of smaller chains to reach £21.6bn last year. Finance provider LDF said the turnover of the restaurant sector has grown from £15.5bn in 2010, driven by the expansion of so-called [...]
How Finncap weathered the General Election and Scottish referendum storms May 17, 2015 If a week is a long time in politics then nine months is an age – especially for City broker Finncap. The run-up to Scotland’s referendum in September and the run-in to May’s general election was the noisy backdrop for much of Finncap’s financial year. Despite a severe dampening of animal spirits across the Square [...]
Vodafone continues to weigh on quarterly UK dividend payments May 17, 2015 UK dividends fell by more than 60 per cent to $19.1bn in the first quarter after Vodafone’s bumper payout last year continued to distort headline figures. The telecoms giant made a special $26bn payment to investors on the back of its Verizon Wireless deal last year – making this year’s quarterly dividend payout pale in [...]
Sentiment for UK assets fell in vote run-up May 17, 2015 INVESTOR sentiment toward British assets declined in the run-up to the General Election, according to a survey of investors, when polls suggested there was a strong chance of a hung parliament. The percentage of respondents whose outlook on UK shares was positive minus those that were negative – net sentiment – was 26.3 per cent [...]
Strong sterling fails to hinder UK exporters May 17, 2015 Britain’s manufacturers are seeing a sharp rise in exports despite unfavourable exchange rates, according to survey data released today by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and delivery firm DHL Express. A greater number of export orders was seen by 46 per cent of manufacturers in the first three months of the year. It compares [...]
PwC research finds women over 55 are best suited for leadership May 17, 2015 Businesses should be appointing more women aged over 55 to leadership roles, according to research from accounting giant PwC. The company found that only eight per cent of business leaders currently have the best capabilities for their roles, in a survey of 6,000 European professionals’ leadership capabilities, carried out by psychometric specialists Harthill Consulting. PwC’s [...]
Think you will retire on £42,000 a year? That’ll be £1m up front… May 17, 2015 Britain’s workers are chronically unprepared for retirement, a new report by one of the UK’s biggest life insurers reveals today, with just seven per cent putting in enough money to meet their expectations. The research, conducted by Watermelon on behalf of Aegon, found a vast gap between the amount of money people expect to receive [...]
Wimbledon Championships serve up a profit May 17, 2015 The All England Tennis Club, the ultimate owner of the Wimbledon Championships, reported a 48 per cent rise in operating profit to £56.1m in the year to 31 July 2014. Most of the income came from the Championships which delivered turnover of £169.7m – 99 per cent of its total. It signed TV rights contracts [...]
