CMS Cameron outsources back office in £583m deal May 16, 2010 CITY law firm CMS Cameron McKenna is to outsource its entire support services function after signing a £583m deal with Integreon. The radical move is expected to generate a future model for law firms, which already outsource some back office functions, and will generate up to 15 per cent costs savings for Camerons. Under the [...]
Blank on the long list for M&S chair May 16, 2010 HEADHUNTERS searching for a replacement to Sir Stuart Rose at Marks and Spencer have earmarked former Lloyds chairman Sir Victor Blank as a potential candidate to chair the board. JCA Group founder Jan Hall is currently putting together a long list of candidates ready for the board to whittle down. Other names that have been [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2010 Greencore The convenience foods group has appointed business grandee Eric Nicoli, the chairman of cinema operator Vue Entertainment, as a non-executive director. In addition to his role at Vue, Nicoli is also currently senior partner at fund of hedge funds Sunningdale Capital. He was previously chief executive of United Biscuits and chairman and chief executive [...]
Italy takes EU lead on debt reduction May 16, 2010 ITALY is set to follow in Greece’s footsteps by being subjected to tough austerity measures to curb its ballooning deficit, the country’s economy minister said yesterday. Giulio Tremonti told the Italian Il Corriere della Sera newspaper that the austerity package, worth €27.6bn (£23.5bn) over the next two years, would include measures similar to those announced [...]
Anglo Irish Bank rejects the idea of 20-year wind down May 16, 2010 NATIONALISED Anglo Irish Bank expects to submit the latest version of its business plan to the European Commission this week, its new chairman said, with the aim of splitting it into a “good” and “bad” bank. Anglo Irish, which is being propped up by massive sums of state capital and which in March posted the [...]
Gulf hotel opens gold vending machine May 16, 2010 EMIRATES Palace, the luxury Abu Dhabi hotel, made history at the weekend as it unveiled the world’s first vending machine selling gold bars in its lobby. The ATM machine, itself plated in 24-carat gold, updates its prices every 10 minutes via an internal computer to match those quoted on international markets. It sells bars weighing [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 16, 2010 BT Citigroup has recommended BT as a “buy” after the telecoms group posted impressive fourth quarter results. Citi said revenue was ahead of estimates and consensus by four to five per cent. Revenue was driven by Global Services which beat consensus by £164m, according to Citi. BRITVIC Credit Suisse has issued Britvic with an “overweight” [...]
London sales are slowed by volcanic ash May 16, 2010 RETAIL sales growth in London has slowed after the ash cloud crisis took its toll, according to the British Retail Consortium. Sales were up 3.6 per cent in April while they had jumped by 5.1 per cent in the same month last year. The volcanic ash cloud which billowed across Europe grounded flights for six [...]
WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR BOTH UK RETAIL SALES AND CONSUMER SPENDING? May 16, 2010 PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC “Our suspicion is that pre-election jitters could have had a negative impact on shoppers, as it appears to have had in the Nationwide measure of consumer confidence. We are pencilling in decline of 0.5 per cent on the month but would warn that the monthly series is unpredictable.” PETER DIXON | [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
