Birmingham City receivers now weighing up seven takeover bids April 8, 2015 BIRMINGHAM City fans could soon see their club freed from years of boardroom turmoil after the club’s parent company announced it had received two more takeover offers on top of the five already confirmed. In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, receivers Ernst and Young who have been running Birmingham International Holdings Limited [...]
Maths graduates rake in biggest bank payouts April 8, 2015 MATHS and statistics graduates are typically the best paid bankers, according to data out yesterday from salary benchmarking site Emolument.com. Bank directors in London who are good with numbers earn an average of £398,000. Next up are computer science graduates, with an average of £329,000, closely followed by economists on £322,000. Although they might be [...]
Aldi becomes sixth biggest food retailer but sales growth slows April 8, 2015 ALDI has overtaken Waitrose as the UK’s sixth biggest supermarket, according to figures out yesterday that also cautioned that growth among the discounters was slowing. Aldi’s sales grew by 16.8 per cent in the 12 weeks to 30 March compared with a year earlier, taking its market share to 5.3 per cent, data from Kantar [...]
Pret A Manger trials fine dining in a bid to boost evening trade April 8, 2015 PRET A Manger has delighted its devoted customer base by trialling a sit-down service in the evening at one of its London branches. The ubiquitous British sandwich and coffee chain started its trail run at its Strand branch two weeks ago after six months of preparation. The group is looking for ways to maximise revenues [...]
Recruiter Robert Walters posts strong profit despite weak euro April 8, 2015 GLOBAL professional recruitment firm Robert Walters shrugged off a weak European economy and falling euro to register a strong upturn in profitability. Gross profits in the three months ending March jumped 12 per cent from a year earlier to £53.9m. Fee income in the UK jumped by 22 per cent. “It’s pleasing to see growth [...]
Argentina takes Citi to court over US deal April 8, 2015 ARGENTINA yesterday launched legal action against Citibank Argentina for striking a deal with a group of US creditors fighting the government over unpaid debt. The announcement by Axel Kicillof, the country’s economy minister marked a fresh low in deteriorating relations between it and the bank. Citibank Argentina, a subsidiary of Citigroup, found itself at the [...]
Shop vacancy at 5-year low April 8, 2015 SHOP vacancy rates across Britain’s high streets fell to their lowest level in March since 2010, figures released yesterday show. The Local Data Company’s (LDC) latest report shows retail vacancy rates fell to 13 per cent in March from 13.1 per cent in February while properties for leisure activities stayed the same at 8.3 per [...]
Retail sales on continent dip April 8, 2015 RETAIL sales in the Eurozone dropped slightly in February, but economists said the longer-term trend remains robust. Sales volumes dropped by 0.2 per cent compared with January, according to figures released yesterday by Eurostat – Europe’s official statistics office. “Eurozone retail sales look a bit disappointing, but don’t be misled. The decline in the latest [...]
George Osborne finds magic money machine at Metro Bank April 8, 2015 George Osborne may have solved the British government’s huge annual deficit problem. He’s found a magic money machine! The chancellor was in Kingston yesterday, visiting a branch of Metro Bank in order to hail news that the challenger bank will employ 3,300 new staff, and aim to have a total of 150 branches by 2020. [...]
Greens’ boy band just the latest in long history of bonkers broadcasts April 8, 2015 THE GREEN party launched a somewhat eyebrow-raising election broadcast last night, with David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage depicted as a rather bizarre boy band. Visit cityam.com/electionvideos to watch the video in all its glory, where we also dissect some of history’s equally odd party political broadcasts. There’s John Cleese urging voters to back [...]
