HMV to honour gift vouchers as Hilco deal nears January 21, 2013 CRISIS-HIT music retailer HMV has performed a U-turn on its initial decision to refuse gift vouchers, administrators confirmed yesterday. Deloitte, the business advisory firm which took control of retailer last week, said HMV vouchers can now be redeemed in stores from today. It also said funds raised by HMV from the sale of charity releases, [...]
David Cameron to give delayed speech on EU links tomorrow January 21, 2013 DAVID Cameron will finally deliver his speech on Britain’s future relationship with the EU tomorrow morning, Downing Street confirmed yesterday. The speech was originally due to be delivered in Amsterdam last Friday but was delayed due to the Algerian hostage crisis. Although the Prime Minister’s aides wanted the announcement to take place on the continent for symbolic reasons, [...]
Carpetright eyes Dreams January 21, 2013 FLOOR covering retailer Carpetright is understood to be one of a number of bidders circling beleaguered bed maker Dreams. Accountancy firm Ernst & Young has been hired to handle the sale process for the bed retailer, which was put up for sale before Christmas by main lender Royal Bank of Scotland. Private equity firm Exponent [...]
Tesco in new online push January 21, 2013 TESCO intensified its dotcom push yesterday by opening its fifth “dark store” near Crawley, West Sussex. The dotcom store, which will create 700 jobs, will serve only online shoppers. The supermarket typically offers an instore pick-up service for its online customers, but is ramping up its dotcom store presence thanks to growing demand in and [...]
Pearson warns of tough 2013 as profits falter January 21, 2013 PEARSON, the education and media business behind the Financial Times newspaper, has warned that annual profits will be lower than expected. The company said “tough market conditions and structural industry change” were to blame for an unexpected fall in operating profits, and that these issues were likely to continue into 2013. The announcement sent shares [...]
Fighting against the future can only buy so much time January 21, 2013 THE decision by HMV’s administrators Deloitte to honour gift vouchers and to pay proceeds raised for charity singles is a piece of luck for those caught out by the music chain’s crisis. While at first sight this is less heartwarming for the chain’s other creditors, it may in fact be slightly upbeat news for them [...]
Analyst Views | Does Pearson’s profit downgrade affect your rating? January 21, 2013 STEVE LIECHTI INVESTEC 2012 downgrades are expected but 2013 forecasts fall by even more given warnings in a number of areas. US higher education is still seeing drag given state budget pressure while college admissions are reducing. We retain our “Hold” guidance but cut the price target from 1240p to 1190p. THOMAS SINGLEHURST CITI A [...]
Resolution taps ex-Stan Chart boss to be chair January 21, 2013 FORMER Standard Chartered chief executive Sir Malcolm Williamson is set to become chairman of insurance buy-out vehicle Resolution, it was announced yesterday. Williamson, 73, will succeed Mike Biggs, who is stepping down as part of a plan to streamline the complicated executive structure at the FTSE 100 group, which was founded by industry pioneer Clive Cowdery in [...]
Virtu Financial ditches London for merged Dublin operations January 21, 2013 US MARKET maker Virtu Financial is to shut its London office and relocate all its European trading operations staff to Dublin, it emerged yesterday. The high frequency trader, which merged with fellow US trading outfit Madison Tyler in May 2011, will close its office on the edge of Hyde Park and slim down to a [...]
EasyJet draws fresh protests from Stelios January 21, 2013 EASYJET’S biggest shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has gone on the offensive as the airline considers its next plane purchase, threatening to sell his holding unless the board calls a halt to any new aircraft orders. Sir Stelios, along with his brother and sister, have already sold 600,000 EasyJet shares in the open market to “send [...]
