Cineworld revenues increase despite the World Cup finals June 30, 2010 BRITISH cinema chain Cineworld believes new 3D films from popular franchises like Shrek, Toy Story and Harry Potter will help it attract audiences after a downturn triggered by the World Cup. Cineworld, which runs 78 mainly multiplex cinemas, said revenues rose 3.7 per cent in the first half of its financial year, even though the [...]
HMV looks forward to happy Christmas after profits pick up June 30, 2010 HMV met forecasts with an 18 per cent rise in yearly profit and said its plan to transform the business into an entertainment brand was working. The music, games and DVD group, which runs over 400 stores under its own name as well as 314 Waterstone’s bookstores, made an underlying pretax profit of £74.2m for [...]
Kraft veteran joins Premier June 30, 2010 Premier Foods has appointed former Kraft executive Ronnie Bell to become its new chairman. Bell, who spent 30-years at the US group, replaces David Kappler, who has been chairman since 2004. Bell is currently a non-executive board member at Northern Foods, but will step down to take up the Premier role in October. Charles Miller [...]
Former Hobbs boss dies June 30, 2010 Former Hobbs chief executive Nick Samuel has died after a short illness at the age of 58. Samuel guided the retailer between 2002 and 2008 and remained on the board of the company until last year. The businessman also sat on the board of Adili, N.Peal and was a non-executive director at Blacks. He was [...]
Accountants back report by regulators June 30, 2010 ACCOUNTANTS say they are willing to consider whether the current audit model needs to evolve to meet changing market needs, following a recent report by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) saying that the profession had not been sceptical enough about the financial firms it audited in the run up to the banking crisis. The City [...]
The Gaul the world loves June 30, 2010 I’VE visited a lot of restaurants in London: flashy ones, rustic ones, refined European ones, rooftop ones, flamboyantly ethnic ones and ones that closed after not very long at all. My favourite, on many levels, is Sketch – less a restaurant than a pleasure dome. I love that an eccentric man greets you and speaks [...]
Auditors must learn to articulate their value June 30, 2010 If there is to be a positive legacy of the financial crisis, it must be in the lessons that market participants have learned from extremely challenging times. Bank auditors have been no exception. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Financial Reporting Council have set out their thoughts on the auditors’ role and the contribution they [...]
AUDITOR VIEWS: WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE JOINT FSA AND FRC REPORT ON THE ROLE OF THE AUDITOR? June 30, 2010 GRAHAM CLAYWORTH | BDO We welcome the healthy contribution to the debate. What does need to happen is for auditors, regulators, corporates and investment bodies to sit down and say ‘how do we go forward?’ and this is why I think this report is helpful. RICHARD SEXTON | PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS The audit is critical to the [...]
Three hotpots for rooftop drinks June 30, 2010 EVEN a hint of clemency in London weather sends people out onto the streets to try to lap up a ray or two. This summer, though, we seem to have a proper excuse to drink outside. The only question is: where? Well, banish thoughts of rammed pubs or overly exclusive venues. London is now home [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 30, 2010 CFA Institute The Chartered Financial Analysts Institute has appointed Edward Bace as head of education for the EMEA region. He joins the institute from BPP Business School, where he was professor of finance. He has over 20 years’ experience in international finance, and has worked for Lehman Brothers, Standard & Poor’s and the European Bank [...]
