Pernod says cheers to Tia Maria June 14, 2009 Tia Maria, the coffee liqueur brand, has been formally put up for sale by owner Pernod Ricard with a price-tag of €200m (£176m). The sell-off is part of the group’s attempt to raise cash after last year’s £5.6bn takeover of Vin&Spirit, the manufacturer of Absolut Vodka. The move follows last month’s disposal of the bourbon [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 14, 2009 Barnett WaddinghamThe actuaries and consultants firm has appointed four new partners: Alison Hamilton, Sarah Brown, Paul Houghton and Matt Tickle. Hamilton, pictured, joined the firm in 2006 and specialises in public sector actuarial and consulting. Brown and Houghton are scheme actuaries, providing actuarial and consulting advice to employers and trustees of corporate pension schemes, while [...]
BUST UP June 14, 2009 DRAGON’S DEN star Theo Paphitis has walked out on lingerie chain La Senza after a bust-up with its private equity owner, Lion Capital. It is thought Paphitis quit the board after a clash of opinions over how the business should be run. The entrepreneur was in talks with Lion to buy a majority stake in [...]
Tube strikes are a blot on our global reputation June 14, 2009 MY HEART sank when the International Herald Tribune splashed a large photograph of London commuters struggling to get to work on its front cover. Although the article rightly complimented Londoners on their determination to keep businesses going in the face of crippling tube strikes, it made me angry. This is not the image of London [...]
Retail giants set for battle June 14, 2009 SUPERMARKET heavyweights Tesco and J Sainsbury are set to battle it out this week for retail supremacy, when they both announce sales results for the past quarter. Tomorrow, Tesco is expected to report an underlying rise in sales of between 4 and 4.5 per cent, lagging behind J Sainsbury’s predicted 7 per cent growth. Tesco, [...]
WHEN DO YOU SEE UK INTEREST RATES STARTING TO RISE AGAIN? June 14, 2009 GEORGE BUCKLEY DEUTSCHE BANKWe have them rising in the second half of 2010. The Bank might have to raise rates quicker, but on balance the amount of rebalancing that households and firms will have to do in the UK will restrict the pace of growth. IAN MCCAFFERTY CBIWe will need to see some move back [...]
MPC steadied by string of positive data June 14, 2009 CAUTIOUS optimism is likely to dominate the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) June minutes due out this Wednesday, in the light of the last fortnight’s string of positive data. Key MPC members including Kate Barker and Paul Fisher have already expressed concerns about the strength and sustainability of the UK’s nascent economic recovery, [...]
LoveFilm set to cash in on sale June 14, 2009 LOVEFILM, the online DVD rental company which has had storming growth thanks to titles such as Slumdog Millionaire, is understood to be considering a stock exchange listing which could provide a £14m windfall for the company’s management. Chief executive Simon Calver has hired investment bank Jefferies to assess strategic options, with a possible sale of [...]
Law firms see fee incomes fall June 14, 2009 LEGAL giants saw their fee incomes dive by 4.3 per cent in the quarter to end April compared with last year, dragging down their full-year results. Deloitte’s Quarterly Legal Sector Survey found performance has continued to decline, with chargeable hours per fee-earning lawyer falling 7.1 per cent compared with last year across the top 100 [...]
Met Office holds the secret to summer success June 14, 2009 I THOUGHT this whole “green shoots” argument was becoming a bit clichéd…then we started getting results from the DIY retailers. In a strictly horticultural sense “green shoots” went a long way towards propping up earnings at Home Retail last week, as sunny weather motivated the great British public to snap up gardening gear, barbecues, bikes [...]
