Co-op hires 3,000 to expand legal service May 24, 2012 THE CO-Operative Group will hire 3,000 people to grow its legal arm, it said yesterday, as the firm continues its push to become the UK’s biggest provider of consumer legal services over the next decade. The Co-op was the first non-law firm to be licensed to sell legal services in the UK, after its application [...]
Banking group’s pledge should make law firms sit up and think May 24, 2012 With its commitment to hire 3,000 staff to expand its legal business, Co-op has come out fighting in the race to shake up the UK’s stagnating legal market. The comparatives are hardly scientific, but top firm Clifford Chance employs 3,200 legal advisers worldwide, so the Co-op’s goal would certainly bring it alongside the big boys [...]
Daily Mail firm profits hit by one-off costs May 24, 2012 BRITISH newspaper group Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) said yesterday that it still expects full-year earnings to grow, helped by an improved second-half performance, after the cost of disposals, restructuring and redundancies hit its first half. “Clearly the trading environment does remain somewhat challenging, particularly for our consumer businesses, but these results do illustrate the [...]
LONDON 2012 IMAGE OF THE WEEK May 24, 2012 THIS week, Lord Mayor of the City of London David Wootton posed with the 1948 Olympic torch – used when London last hosted the Games. Created by Ralph Lavers to represent the best of British craftsmanship, and inspired by classical architecture, the design was successful enough to be used again at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. [...]
Omnicom acquires ad agency behind John Lewis campaign May 24, 2012 ADAM & Eve, the communications agency behind the much-loved John Lewis adverts, was yesterday bought by DDB, a subsidiary of Omnicom. The £60m deal will see the company’s four founding partners – Jon Forsyth, Ben Priest, James Murphy and David Golding – assume senior roles at Adam & Eve / DDB. The five year old firm has risen [...]
Porvair upbeat on full year May 24, 2012 Filtration specialist Porvair said yesterday that it had started 2012 well and expects to report interim profits well ahead of 2011. It said group revenue in the first half of 2011 was up 10 per cent on the previous year while its order book was strong. It spent £3.4m buying Pulse Instrumentation, Pell Industries and [...]
Electrocomponents strong in UK May 24, 2012 British electronic parts supplier Electrocomponents said its UK business had helped offset declines across international markets at the start of its new fiscal year, as it posted a seven per cent rise in profit for 2011/12. For the first seven weeks of the year it said international trading was down two per cent, while the [...]
BMW fined over Swiss imports May 24, 2012 BMW, the world’s biggest premium carmaker, was fined yesterday for preventing Swiss residents from buying its cars abroad in euros after the strong Swiss franc made prices up to a quarter higher. The Swiss Competition Commission fined BMW SwFr156m (£104m). BMW said it plans to appeal against the fine within the legal deadline of one [...]
Bank official warns against tighter policy May 24, 2012 PUSHING hard to cut inflation may do more harm than good, the Bank of England’s David Miles said yesterday, claiming that tighter monetary policy would hit incomes in the long run. Although the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is officially meant to keep consumer price inflation close to two per cent per year, Miles argued that [...]
Strong US economy needs no more QE, says Fed’s chief dove May 24, 2012 THE US does not need more quantitative easing (QE), a top Federal Reserve policymaker said yesterday, reversing his previously dovish stance. New York Fed boss Bill Dudley said the economy is steadily improving and using up slack, limiting the need for further support. “I think it’s hard to argue that we absolutely must do something [...]
