Management should stick to Plan A December 22, 2010 RANJIT Boparan’s plan to bid for Northern Foods might be audacious, but the odds are stacked against it. An already-planned merger between Northern Foods and Irish rival Greencore is still the best deal on the table. The marriage of Northern and Greencore – the two leading chilled players in the UK market – would bring [...]
BATTERSEA REDEVELOPMENT GETS OKAY December 22, 2010 MAYOR of London Boris Johnson gave the go-ahead yesterday for the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and its surrounding area. The new scheme is part of a wider £5.5bn development that involves an extension to the Northern Line and the construction of thousands of homes, plus retail and office space. The proposal will now go [...]
Cheesegrater project gets the go-ahead December 22, 2010 BRITISH Land confirmed its deal with Oxford Properties to build the Cheesegrater skyscraper yesterday, bringing the £340m project closer to fruition after it was sidelined during the recession. British Land has kicked off the 50:50 joint venture by contributing the site on Leadenhall Street, worth £90m, and expects to spend a further £125m. The FTSE [...]
Greece approves new austerity package amid downgrade threats December 22, 2010 GREEK lawmakers last night approved a 2011 austerity budget that imposes yet more cuts on the nation, hours after thousands took to the streets shouting “We can’t take it anymore.” The bill targets a budget deficit of 7.4 per cent of GDP next year, down from about 9.4 per cent this year, through more spending [...]
Irish government aims to shore up AIB with an extra €3.7bn state cash December 22, 2010 THE Irish government will apply to the High Court today to pump €3.7bn (£3.15bn) of state cash into Allied Irish Banks (AIB), according to reports. Finance minister Brian Lenihan has said he will inject fresh capital into the country’s second-largest lender before the end of the year to bring its core tier one capital ratio [...]
Retailers hit back over BBC claims December 22, 2010 THE British Retail Consortium (BRC) has branded a withering attack on supermarket expansion broadcast on the BBC’s Panorama last night as “misleading”. Programme makers indicate that the UK’s major grocers are growing more quickly than ever, suggesting that one of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons effectively gets planning permission for a new store “every working [...]
AMERICAN APPAREL DENIES WRONGDOING December 22, 2010 DOV Charney, chief executive of American Apparel, yesterday denied assertions that the US clothing retailer had withheld crucial financial information from Deloitte & Touche, which resigned as its independent accountant in July. American Apparel has faced criticism over lax financial controls and poor management.
Pace of UK’s growth starts to slow down December 22, 2010 GROWTH in the middle of the year was slightly less than previously estimated, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday. The economy expanded by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2010, and by 1.1 per cent in the second. Yet the ONS revised both levels down by 0.1 per cent on their [...]
MPC forecasts inflation to hit four per cent December 22, 2010 INFLATION “could well reach four per cent by the spring” – according to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes, released yesterday. The forecast is higher than the rate-setting body predicted just one month earlier, yet interest rates are unlikely to be increased in the short term, after eight of the committee maintained [...]
Crisis for government migration cap December 22, 2010 NET migration will not fall by much next year despite the Conservatives’ pledge to reduce it to “tens of thousands,” the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said today. And the government’s measures to restrict immigration face legal challenges from opponents and attacks from business groups. Entrepreneurs and investors will no longer be able to [...]
