Savills eyes up bumper bonuses March 14, 2010 Estate agency Savills is lining up a bonus pay out for its 20,000 staff worldwide of £60m. The payout will be more than its expected profits which are believed to be in the region of £24m. “The company tends to pay below market rates on basic salary,” Savills said. “The flexibility of our renumeration system [...]
Dyson steps down as chairman March 14, 2010 Sir James Dyson, the extrovert entrepreneur, is stepping down as chairman of Dyson to be replaced by Bob Ayling, the former chief executive of British Airways. There are rumours that Dyson will be hired by the Conservatives if they win the next General Election. Last week he produced a 60 page report called “Ingenious Britain: [...]
Kraft to answer for job losses March 14, 2010 Kraft will this week appear before the Commons business, innovation and skills committee to face questions over its decision to backtrack on promises to protect jobs when it bought Cadbury earlier this year. The confectionary giant decided to close the Somerdale plant near Bristol with the loss of 400 jobs. Lindsay Hoyle, Labour MP for [...]
Whitbread to buy out JV in Indian hotels March 14, 2010 WHITBREAD, Britain’s biggest hotel and coffee shop operator, has bought out its Indian joint venture (JV) partner Emaar MGF. “Whitbread confirms that Premier Inn has completed the acquisition of the 50.1 per cent stake it did not own in the JV with real estate developer Emaar MGF,” the company said in a statement. A foreign [...]
Acquisitions are back on the agenda this year March 14, 2010 M&A teams in investment banks all over London must be salivating at the prospect of a wave of new deals. Acquisitions are back on the agenda. In many ways it makes sense. Last year many companies re-trenched, rebuilt their balance sheets and hoped for the best. They have been hoarding cash but now wonder if [...]
Matrix expands in Middle East March 14, 2010 MATRIX, the UK privately owned financial services business, has opened up a new Middle Eastern arm to take advantage of new investment opportunities in the region. The company has also signed a joint venture agreement with ME Alignment, a Qatar based real estate development and investment company owned by members of Al Attiya Family, the [...]
Chinese: leave currency alone March 14, 2010 CHINESE premier Wen Jiabao has insisted the renminbi is not undervalued and warned other countries’ insistence the currency policy should be changed amounts to protectionism. Wen said yesterday that China would continue to reform its currency system but rebelled against pressure to change the exchange rate. “The Chinese currency is not undervalued,” he said, speaking [...]
Richemont in £350m bid for Net-a-Porter March 14, 2010 ONLINE fashion outlet Net-a-Porter is understood to be on the verge of being bought out by Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group. Richemont, which already owns 29 per cent of the clothing boutique, is reported to be in advanced discussions to acquire the remaining 71 per cent in a deal which would value Net-a-Porter at [...]
Brussels rule jeopardises South African gains March 14, 2010 WE BRITS suffer from a sort of “oscillating Channel syndrome” when it comes to our place in the community of northern (and now wider) Europe. In our isolationist moods we see those 34 sea kilometres to Calais as a handy barrier. But as pragmatic traders we have known for millennia that the Continent’s shallow sea [...]
Blockbuster puts Euro arm up for sale March 14, 2010 FILM rental chain Blockbuster has put its European arm up for sale, it emerged yesterday. The indebted US company wants to sell its European division, which it values at about £50m, to raise cash, a report said. Blockbuster has hired corporate finance house Winchester Capital to find a buyer for the European arm, which has [...]
