BILL OF THE WEEK November 20, 2011 THE CUBAN missile crisis was nothing compared to the fuss that ensued when the new furniture for Gaucho Broadgate was detained as a “suspect package” by HM Customs & Excise. No matter that the dubious shipment was from Italy and not Havana, as first suspected, Gaucho will be without designer décor for its new cigar [...]
German strong-arm tactics could backfire November 20, 2011 IF a week is a long time in politics, two weeks covering affairs of state in Italy can seem like an eternity. But having covered the fall of Berlusconi and the rise of Monti’s technocrats, there’s some relief things moved along quicker than I and investors feared. Less than two weeks ago it was still [...]
Weber supports me, says Ermotti November 20, 2011 Swiss bank UBS’s strategy to slash risky assets by almost half and pay its first dividend since the financial crisis has the full backing of Axel Weber, its newly-crowned chief executive Sergio Ermotti said yesterday.”Axel Weber is 100 per cent behind our strategy,” Ermotti, who was named permanent chief executive last week, said. Ermotti took [...]
Thomas Cook to close 200 stores November 20, 2011 THOMAS Cook is set to close about 200 high street travel agencies as the troubled tour operator prepares to unveil a massive overhaul of its UK operations. The closures follow Thomas Cook’s recent merger with Co-op’s travel business that left the operator with 1,350 high street shops. At the time of the deal, the group [...]
It’s the internet, stupid November 20, 2011 IT is hardly surprising that Thomas Cook is closing 200 shops. Its branch network, which swelled to 1,350 following its ill-judged merger with Co-operative Travel, is simply too big. The real problem is that the travel agent will struggle to replace forfeited revenues because its online platform and product is not fit for purpose. As [...]
High street is hit by plunge in customers November 20, 2011 THE UK’s high streets have suffered the sharpest drop in footfall since last December’s freezing weather, new research reveals, painting a gloomy retail picture ahead of the crucial Christmas trading period. Footfall in stores and shopping centres across the country fell by 2.3 per cent between August and October compared with the same period last [...]
Profits set to shrink at Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia November 20, 2011 THE EMBATTLED retail sector will claim a fresh casualty this week when Arcadia Group, the conglomerate that includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and BHS, reveals that its profit has plunged by a third. Billionaire chief executive Sir Philip Green is expected to report that pretax-profits at Arcadia have fallen to around £140m for the year to [...]
Investors prepare for Facebook’s IPO November 20, 2011 REID Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, expects Facebook to finally pull off its long-awaited IPO in the first half of next year. Mark Zuckerberg’s (pictured) company is keen to cash in on the bumper demand for tech IPOs, with the social network expected to break every record in the book when it finally lists. Its [...]
Three quarters of tech firms hit by cyber criminals November 20, 2011 THREE quarters of technology, media and telecoms firms have been the subject of cyber attacks in the last year, according to new research by Deloitte – an increase of 13 per cent on 2010. A fifth of technology firms said they suffered up to 20 breaches in the last year, with experts warning the risks [...]
Olympus probe widens to take in ill-fated deal for $780m ITX November 20, 2011 AS attention in the Olympus accounting scandal turns to whether funds used to cover up losses were funnelled to criminal groups, scrutiny is set to increase on deals not yet in the spotlight, including a $780m (£493m) investment in technology firm ITX. Olympus and affiliated firms have spent $4.1bn on 57 acquisitions since 2000 in [...]
