Watch England walk out at Lords from the comfort of your own penthouse January 26, 2012 WHERE IS THE BEST PROPERTY FOR WATCHING SPORT IN THE UK, AND HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME? The England cricket team mounted something of a comeback this week after losing the first test against Pakistan in spectacular fashion. Spirited batting by Kevin Pietersen will have whetted the cricket fan’s appetite for the return of [...]
Starbucks enjoys a bumper Christmas January 26, 2012 STARBUCKS last night reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street’s forecasts, after global economic worries failed to weaken demand for drinks and snacks from the world’s biggest coffee chain. The firm continued its global expansion in the quarter, opening a net 241 new outlets and moving into two new countries, helping to push its [...]
French giant Carrefour up on CEO rumour January 26, 2012 SHARES in troubled French retailer Carrefour surged eight per cent yesterday amid mounting speculation that respected retail veteran Georges Plassat could soon replace Lars Olofsson as head of the supermarket giant. Plassat, chief executive of clothing group Vivarte, may replace Olofsson as CEO of Europe’s largest stores group as early as this weekend, Linéaires magazine [...]
Illumina set to use poison pill against Roche January 26, 2012 US gene sequencing company Illumina has adopted a “poison pill” defence strategy against a hostile $5.7bn (£3.6bn) bid from Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, saying it would trigger a rights agreement if any party bought 15 per cent of its stock. Illumina’s first public move since Roche announced the offer on Wednesday showed it would [...]
Nick Clegg: We will never stop campaigning for a mansion tax January 26, 2012 THE RICH should pay more tax on their assets, allowing low-paid workers to keep more of their earnings, Nick Clegg said yesterday. “We are going to stick to our guns” on the proposed mansion tax, he said, arguing that more tax should fall on wealth instead of income. The Deputy Prime Minister urged the chancellor [...]
Ex-Dresdner banker: firm relied on us January 26, 2012 A FORMER manager at Dresdner Kleinwort investment bank has told a court he deserved a €600,000 (£501,171) bonus because he had stayed with the bank in 2008 and helped steer it through the meltdown in the markets. Desmond McNamara, the first banker to take the stand in the trial over €50m of retention bonuses, said [...]
Gloomy 3i reins in spending as Eurozone turmoil runs on January 26, 2012 THE GLOOM surrounding private equity deepened yesterday when 3i said earnings at some of its portfolio firms had been hit while asset sales and new investments had slowed. Britain’s oldest private equity firm said conditions had not improved since November, when it posted a slump in net asset value and chief executive Michael Queen chose [...]
Profits slump for Sabadell January 26, 2012 Spanish bank Sabadell has reported 2011 net profit down 39 per cent on the year after taking €1bn (£835m) in provisions against deteriorating property assets. Sabadell, which bought troubled savings bank CAM in December, said net profit was €232m, slightly lower than analysts’ forecasts. More loans fell into arrears as Spaniards, battling high unemployment and [...]
HMRC extends its tax deadline January 26, 2012 TAXPAYERS will have an additional two days to fill in their self-assessment forms after workers at HM Revenue & Customs announced plans to strike on 31 January, the official deadline for submissions. As a result the taxman has announced that no fines will be given to those who submit their return online by 2 February, [...]
Sales plunge as shoppers’ gloom grows January 26, 2012 SHOPPERS cut back in January and are expected to slash spending further, retailers told the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) distributive trades survey, published yesterday. Twice as many retailers reported that sales were down on January 2011 than reported a rise, with a net balance of 22 suffering a decline – the gloomiest position since [...]
