Slaughters in fracas with Lib Dem peer June 24, 2009 LORD Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, has become embroiled in a row with “magic circle” legal firm Slaughter and May after he accused it of handing the government a “simply mind-blowing” £22m bill. The bill relates to “financial stability” work carried out for the Treasury in the the financial year 2008 to 2009. Slaughters [...]
Luxury London house prices recover to rise 4.3 per cent in the second quarter June 24, 2009 LUXURY London house prices have recorded their first quarterly growth since beginning to slide from the peak of September 2007, according to the latest quarterly research from property group Savills. The report found prime central London house prices rose 4.3 per cent during the past three months – effectively wiping out the falls seen in [...]
Ikea flat-packs 5,000 staff June 24, 2009 IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, yesterday revealed it axed 5,000 jobs last year during “the worst recession in living memory.” The Scandinavian family-ownedfurniture giant employs 120,000 people worldwide, with around 9,500 jobs in the UK, but declined to say how many have been cut at its British operations over the past year. Ikea chief [...]
Shanks sees strong take up on 71m rights issue June 24, 2009 SHANKS Group, the UK’s largest waste management firm, said yesterday that take up for its recent £71.4m rights issue was over 95 per cent. The firm said on 21 May it had issued 158.7m shares at a price of 45p a share, a discount of 50.8 per cent to the stock market closing price the [...]
Rose braces himself for more dissent June 24, 2009 MARKS & SPENCER yesterday faced fresh pressure over Sir Stuart Rose’s dual role as chairman and chief executive as corporate governance body Pirc joined the growing calls for an independent chairman. Pirc said: “Combining the two roles in one person represents a dangerous concentration of power that is potentially detrimental to board balance, effective debate, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 24, 2009 MARSTON’SUBS estimates that Marston’s rights issue to raise £165m will result in around an 18 per cent earnings per share dilution in 2010, falling to 12 per cent by 2013. But the broker said that 40 per cent fall in the share price this month, including 20 per cent since the announcement of the rights [...]
Scrappage scheme boosts Inchcape but says UK market won’t recover until 2010 June 24, 2009 CAR dealer Inchcape reported a drop in sales for the first quarter yesterday, but said the government’s scrappage scheme had made a promising start, helping the retailer. “When the scrappage scheme was introduced, we saw an increase in traffic,” chief executive Andre Lacroix said. But he warned that the car industry was significantly down on [...]
Entertainment One posts 31m loss as costs grow June 24, 2009 MEDIA group Entertainment One reported a full year pre-tax loss of £31m yesterday, up from £7.7m last year, but said it was well placed for further growth. Entertainment One, which buys and distributes film, TV and music content in the UK, Canada and the US, said that higher costs and non-cash impairment charges had driven [...]
Tanfield gets green car funding June 24, 2009 Electric carmaker Tanfield said yesterday it will develop and trial 16 new green vehicles after being deemed eligible for half the funding total allocated by the government to the Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator Programme. Tanfield will receive half of the projected total project cost of £3.2m. It will develop five people carriers and one [...]
Lees Foods hits sweet spot June 24, 2009 Scottish cake and sweets firm Lees Foods said yesterday it expects profits for the first six months of the year to be ahead of last year, due to a combination of increased demand from existing customers, a number of key new account openings and the introduction of new products to its portfolio. The firm, which [...]
