Bombardier wins £106m work to maintain West Coast trains December 11, 2012 CANADIAN train-maker Bombardier has won a £106m contract to maintain Virgin Trains’ Super Voyager fleet on the West Coast Main Line until March 2016. Bombardier will maintain the trains at its Staffordshire depot. The contract extension is a boon for its UK staff, after the firm last year lost its bid for train work on [...]
Heseltine says civil servants in Whitehall hold back growth December 11, 2012 FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine yesterday said many civil servants are “amateur” and suggested Whitehall’s structure is restraining economic growth. “The official world is largely a generalist civil service without expertise and without experience outside their own activities,” he said. “There is a great need for much more professional expertise in the civil service. No one [...]
Jaguar signs deal to build a Saudi plant December 11, 2012 JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has signed a preliminary deal to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, extending its expansion in fast-growing markets having already started work on a plant in China. The British luxury marque, owned by India’s Tata Motors, signed the deal to look at the possibility of making 50,000 Land Rovers a year [...]
BDO and PKF agree to merge as they eye more mid-cap clients December 11, 2012 PARTNERS at BDO and PKF yesterday approved a deal to merge the UK operations of the two firms, giving the enlarged group extra firepower to compete in the mid-tier accountancy and advisory markets. The new firm, operating under the BDO brand, has 3,500 people working across the country, with revenues close to £400m a year. [...]
Frontier IP university spin-out sells protein idea to Tate & Lyle December 11, 2012 FRONTIER IP Group, the London listed portfolio company which sells intellectual property rights to firms, yesterday licenced one of its protein products to Tate & Lyle. The company, through its portfolio company Nandi Proteins Ltd – which is a spin-out venture from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh – will benefit from advisory fees paid by [...]
BT to sell $183m stake in India’s Tech Mahindra December 11, 2012 BT is selling its 9.1 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra in a deal expected to raise about $183m (£113m) and see the British telecoms operator exit an Indian IT services group it co-founded more than two decades ago. The Tech Mahindra shares are being sold at a floor price of 855 rupees ($15.68), according [...]
The lasting public legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games December 11, 2012 AS each year draws to a close I like to look back over YouGov’s BrandIndex and consider the big gainers and fallers of the previous twelve months. Usually this involves examining Britain’s most recognisable corporate brands, such as last week when we looked at how the competition between department store giants John Lewis and Marks [...]
Revamped press regulator to come next year, PCC head says December 11, 2012 A NEW body to regulate the press could be set up early next year, the head of current newspaper watchdog the Press Complaints Commission said yesterday. Tory peer Lord Hunt of Wirral told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he was working with newspaper editors on a plan for the revamped body. The new watchdog [...]
Sportech boss plots expansion in US after Connecticut approval December 11, 2012 SPORTECH, the horseracing and football pools operator, yesterday announced it had won approval for its latest US expansion as it bids to become the country’s dominant internet betting service. The company has been granted an exclusive licence to offer online gambling on horseracing and greyhound racing in Connecticut, opening it up to around 4m customers. [...]
Printing firm Domino tumbles as it puts end to 32-year record December 11, 2012 PRINTING technology company Domino Printing yesterday put a 32-year run of increasing revenues to an end. The company, which manufacturers printers for barcodes and labels, posted a one per cent decline in annual turnover to £312m, owing to weak sales in Europe. This is the first time revenue has fallen since the company was incorporated. Pre-tax [...]
