Firms attack changes to paternity law January 17, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg was accused of risking a bureaucratic nightmare yesterday, after outlining plans to expand impending paternity leave regulations. Clegg wants to “transform” paternity leave so that fathers can take regular chunks of their wives’ or partners’ maternity leave – yet the policy was attacked as unworkable by business groups and employment [...]
Small PE firms outshine the largest over returns January 17, 2011 THE biggest private equity firms have not delivered the best returns, new research from European business school EDHEC showed yesterday. A firm’s size has a huge influence on its investments’ level of return – and this overwhelmingly seems to favour small independent firms over larger groups. Large firms which hold a large number of investments [...]
More flood devastation hits food stocks as prices increase January 17, 2011 SRI LANKA has become the latest country to suffer devastating floods and a knock on effect on escalating food prices. “Vegetables are already going up in price,” said minister Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday. Over a million people have been displaced by the floods in the last nine days, which resulted from abnormally high monsoon rains. The [...]
House prices steady, says Rics January 17, 2011 THE decline in house prices may be slowing down, according to data released today by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The survey’s headline net price balance improved for the second month in a row in December, RICS said. And expectations for sales edged upwards, with eight per cent more surveyors expecting sales to [...]
MORE PLACES TO STAY AT TRAVELODGE January 17, 2011 Travelodge said it plans to build 35 hotels, creating 700 jobs, in the UK and Spain this year. The move will boost the budget hotel chain, led by chief executive Guy Parsons (above), to 495 hotels with 35,841 rooms. The new hotels include sites in Drury Lane and at Bank. Parsons said the chain is [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PATERNITY PLANS? January 17, 2011 JOHN HANNEN | AVM LIMITED “It could be a good idea, if done properly. It’s harmful for womens’ careers for them to take an entire year off. It would be complicated to keep track of, though.” LUKE CORRIE | BANKING CONTRACTOR “It’s a nice idea but I can’t see it working myself. It would be [...]
CITY GIVES CASH TO BRIDES WHO ARE HONEST January 17, 2011 The City of London Corporation will today honour a little-known City tradition by handing out cash to brides who can prove they are “honest”. The somewhat politically dubious accolade dates back to 1882 when Italian-born nobleman Pasquale Favale fell in love with and married a City girl. He was so taken with the Square Mile [...]
City workers are showing restraint when it comes to spending their annual bonus January 17, 2011 Despite reports of a growing sense of confidence in the City, with around half of the UK’s banking and financial professionals stating that they are feeling positive about the year ahead, City workers are apparently remaining much more cautious when it comes to spending. Whilst remaining outwardly bullish about their prospects for 2011 (around 41 [...]
Winter turnaround for consumer morale, reports Nationwide poll January 17, 2011 CONSUMER confidence picked up in December, Nationwide said today. Despite recent falls in Nationwide’s index, data for last month revealed an uptick, driven by more optimistic expectations for this year. “At 73 points, the expectations measure reached its highest level for three months, and perhaps provides some hope that the recovery will gain momentum in [...]
Decline in small business morale January 17, 2011 Small companies ended 2010 less confident than they were at the beginning of the year, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) announced yesterday. “Pressures on small businesses, such as the increase in VAT and fuel duty, are beginning to come to a head,” said the FSB’s John Walker. “This combined with the severe weather at [...]
