Young’s pubs by the Olympic park get gold November 22, 2012 THE COW and Calf pubs at the centre of Stratford’s Westfield shopping centre were the highlight of an impressive six months for Young and Co. with the venues seeing record numbers of visitors during the Olympic Games. The two pubs “shattered all our previous sales records in the second week of the Games,” Young’s said, [...]
Mothercare UK rescue strategy helps cut losses November 22, 2012 MOTHERCARE narrowed its losses in the first half of the year as international sales growth and efforts to turn around its troubled UK division helped boost business. The baby products retailer yesterday reported a pre-tax loss of £27.4m in the six months to 13 October, an improvement on its £81.4m loss in the same period [...]
Sparing the rod could spoil the group November 22, 2012 IT WAS easy for shoppers in the UK to see what was wrong with Mothercare. Shabby stores and a generally low-end feel to the product range damaged the brand and left it open to competition from hipper contenders like Mamas & Papas. Yet that ignored its performance outside the UK, which accounted for 54.5 per [...]
Leveson report on press ethics to be revealed next Thursday November 22, 2012 LORD Justice Leveson will report the results of his long-awaited press inquiry next Thursday, it was announced yesterday. The wide-ranging report into the ethics and practices of the press will be published at 1.30pm. It will digest months of evidence from victims of phone hacking, top figures in the media, and politicians, and recommend proposals [...]
Beer, oysters and rugby chat November 22, 2012 TO the refined setting of the Mansion House for the Guinness and Oyster Luncheon yesterday. The annual boozy lunch, which raises funds for the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People, is now in its 47th year and firmly penned into all City social calendars worth their salt – or, perhaps more appropriately, vinegar or tabasco. [...]
Bean counters meet at old fish market for accountancy gongs November 22, 2012 FORMER Deloitte partner and ex-BAA chief financial officer Margaret Ewing picked up the outstanding industry contribution gong at the British Accountancy Awards in Billingsgate on Wednesday night. Accounting giants KPMG won global firm of the year, Johnston Carmichael won national firm of the year, while mid-tier firm of the year was Cooper Parry. KPMG’s Raylene [...]
Close Bros does well but weak securities drag November 22, 2012 FINANCIAL services group Close Brothers said yesterday it has made a solid start to its new financial year, though its Winterflood Securities arm continues to suffer from low trading volumes. The FTSE 250-listed firm’s loan book has grown four per cent to £4.3bn, Close said in a trading update for the quarter to the end [...]
Glencore gets EU nod as it ends zinc deal November 22, 2012 GLENCORE won approval from EU antitrust regulators yesterday, as expected, marking another hurdle jumped for its £56bn mega-merger with miner Xstrata. The European Commission cleared the deal – which has taken a tense 10 months of negotiations since Glencore first approached Xstrata in February – but said that the commodity trader must scrap its exclusive [...]
Hancock twins make sweet deal after selling the family business November 22, 2012 THE TWIN brothers behind the pick ‘n’ mix company Hancocks have sold the family business to a Dutch private equity firm for £50m. Andrew and Adrian Hancock have sold the Leicestershire-based cash and carry business founded by their parents 50 years ago to H2 Equity Partners, the group said yesterday. The sweets and chocolates specialist [...]
Top StanChart exec joins WHSmith board November 22, 2012 TOP banking executive Annemarie Durbin has been drafted in at high street retailer WH Smith as a non-executive director. Durbin, currently group head of corporate governance, property, environment and security at Standard Chartered, will replace Mike Ellis who steps down in January. Durbin, who has been at Standard Chartered Group for 17 years and worked [...]
