LONDON 2012 IMAGE OF THE DAY July 31, 2012 Stephanie Houghton and Kim Little of Great Britain’s football team, who also play for Arsenal Ladies, celebrate a surprise 1-0 victory against Brazil at Wembley Stadium last night. Team GB’s women footballers have won all three of their opening matches without conceding a goal, putting them at the top of qualifying group E. They will [...]
Olympic athlete seeking fellow medal winner… July 31, 2012 IT was perhaps only a matter of time before an opportunistic company sought to cash in on the Olympic Village’s reputation as a hotbed of lust. Dating website Illicit Encounters, which specialises in arranging flings for married men and women, has offered all athletes competing at London 2012 free membership during the Games – and [...]
Games sponsor probed in hotel price-fix deal July 31, 2012 THE OFFICE of Fair Trading has accused InterContinental Hotels Group, the official hotel sponsor for the Olympic Games, and two of the biggest travel agents of anti-competitive practices that limited the discounts offered on hotel rooms. The watchdog, which announced the provisional findings of its investigation launched in September 2010, said Booking.com and Expedia made [...]
Capital & Counties takes a step towards its Earls Court scheme July 31, 2012 CAPITAL & Counties said its joint venture with Hong Kong’s Kwok family on part of its Earls Court scheme would be finalised in the coming months as the developer awaits planning permission on the vast £8bn project. The billionaire Kwok brothers, who are being investigated in Hong Kong on charges of bribery, bought a 50 [...]
Google buys social marketing firm in bid to expand ad reach July 31, 2012 GOOGLE said last night it had purchased social marketing firm Wildfire, in a deal believed to be worth around $250m (£159.5m). Wildfire, which provides software that helps businesses manage their presence on social networks, has a list of clients including Amazon and Sony. Its expertise will allow Google to understand advertisers’ demands as social advertising [...]
British Land acquires mall July 31, 2012 BRITISH LAND yesterday said it has bought a 50 per cent share in the Eden Walk shopping centre in Kingston-upon-Thames for £41.5m. The firm bought the stake in the 1960s mall from the Universities Superannuation Scheme, its partner on Whiteley Shopping Centre in South Hampshire, which is due to open next year. The pair plan [...]
LOVEFILM ADDS MIRAMAX FILMS TO CATALOGUE July 31, 2012 Lovefilm has announced a tie-up with studio Miramax to bring a roster of titles including Kill Bill (pictured), Pulp Fiction and Bridget Jones’s Diary to its on-demand film streaming service. The Amazon-owned business needs to expand its online catalogue in the wake of Sky’s move into online movie streaming with the launch of its Now [...]
Games Workshop fulfils fantasies July 31, 2012 Fantasy game specialist Games Workshop has dispelled some of the economic gloom after it announced yesterday that profits had leapt by more than a quarter in the year to 3 June, on sales up 6.4 per cent to £131m. Popular model series like Forge World and its Black Library fantasy books helped drive pre-tax profits [...]
Metro sales beat European woes July 31, 2012 German retailer Metro managed a slight rise in sales in the quarter despite tough conditions in Europe. The world’s fourth-largest retailer saw a two per cent rise in turnover to €15.8bn (£12.4bn), better than forecasts. The results relieved investors although Metro made a net loss of €20m for the quarter. This was far less painful [...]
Sharp drop for Warner Estates July 31, 2012 Property fund manager Warner Estate Holdings yesterday revealed a post tax loss of £38.7m for the year ending March 2012, compared to a loss of £7.2m for last year. The manager said this was mainly due to fair value adjustments on investment properties and investments as well as realised losses on the sale of properties. [...]
