THERE’S NEVER A BAD TIME FOR BORIS TO ASK FOR CASH March 7, 2012 BORIS Johnson likes to make much of the fact that he has convinced the private sector to give him oodles of cash. Barclays gave £25m to help pay for his Boris bikes while Emirates, the airline, will pay £36m over the next ten years to sponsor the Thames cable car. But his method of extracting [...]
LEIGH PEMBERTON TO GO ON AND ON March 7, 2012 RIvals across town, who have forever been envious of Credit Suisse star banker James Leigh Pemberton’s brains, good humour and especially his contacts, have been talking wishfully about his possible early retirement. “Not so,” says the great man to The Capitalist, when asked the direct question. “It ain’t happening. I haven’t got anything better that [...]
Sale of BMI takes its toll on Lufthansa March 7, 2012 DEUTSCHE Lufthansa posted a net loss of €13m (£10.86m) in 2011, after taking a larger-than-expected charge on the sale of its British Midland unit. British Airways owner IAG in December agreed to buy Lufthansa’s British Midland for £172.5m in the race to grab the loss-making unit’s coveted runway slots at London Heathrow. A loss of [...]
Olympics to boost London businesses March 7, 2012 THE OLYMPICS will lead to a business boom for London as the city is showcased to heads of states who will use their visit as a diplomatic opportunity, insisted the Department for Transport’s London director Jonathan Sharrock yesterday. Deloitte director Mark Naysmith said: “Two weeks before the Athens Olympics the smell of fresh paint lingered [...]
Funeral firm Dignity posts a year of steady growth March 7, 2012 FUNERAL company Dignity said death and taxes had helped it grow last year, after it posted a 1.3 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £40.3m. The firm, which conducts more than one in every ten funerals in the UK, said its tax bill had dropped from £10.8m to £6m in the year, mostly thanks [...]
HOLIDAY AT HOME IN 2012 March 7, 2012 VISITENGLAND, the national tourist board, yesterday launched a campaign aimed at boosting domestic tourism in the UK. Its TV advert, which airs today for the first time, features actress Julie Walters (pictured), and is aimed at showcasing the special 20.12 per cent discount deals on offer on attractions and accommodation during the Olympic year. Picture: [...]
Bill Gates puts music sales service online March 7, 2012 BILL GATES has stepped into the online song sales market by launching his music licensing business, GreenLight, as an internet service which could evolve to rival iTunes. GreenLight, the three-year old entertainment rights vendor, has ventured online with the backing of music giants Warner, EMI, Universal and Sony ATV and already has a portfolio of [...]
Olympus and six former staff charged over firm’s accounts March 7, 2012 TOKYO prosecutors yesterday charged Olympus and six key figures in the £1.1bn accounting fraud at the camera and endoscope maker, tightening their case in the investigation of one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals. Prosecutors charged ex-chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada with inflating the company’s net worth in [...]
Ofcom confirms BT’s price caps March 7, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Commission has given the green light to Ofcom’s proposed price caps for Openreach, BT’s wholesale broadband division. Ofcom, which regulates BT Openreach due to its “significant market power”, will lower annual charges by five to 20 per cent, with further reductions each year until March 2014. BT said it disagrees with some assumptions and will [...]
Buyout delivers for Sportech March 7, 2012 GAMBLING group Sportech’s 2010 acquisition of Scientific Games Racing, the US racetrack business, has finally proved a success as it swung the British company to profit last year. Sportech posted pre-tax profits of £8m, up from a loss of £5.9m in 2010. Revenues jumped 66 per cent to £118.2m, of which £67.3m came from the [...]
