I can see clearly now – thanks to ten minutes with a laser surgeon March 22, 2010 ASK around, and you’ll suddenly find that everyone you know either knows someone who has just had laser eye surgery, or they’re about to have it done themselves. It’s like with pop star Lily Allen – she had a big online presence for ages, but nobody one knew had ever actually heard of her. Until [...]
Absence of bidding war kept price low March 22, 2010 IT’S a funny old world. Yesterday, four Rio Tinto employees on trial in Shanghai admitted taking bribes during iron ore contract negotiations. The trial has strained relations between China and Australia, but it looks as though the pair are ready to do business again. Analysts and lawyers expect Australian regulators to wave through a deal [...]
Regus profits fall but bright outlook ahead March 22, 2010 SERVICED office provider Regus yesterday said full-year pre-tax profits fell 42 per cent as the recession took its toll on small business, and warned its outlook remained unclear. Regus said the UK workspace picture remains hazy as it posted a fall in turnover from £1.077bn to £1.055bn with pre-tax profits of £86.9m compared with £149.2m [...]
Icap to close its full-service cash equities division March 22, 2010 ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, yesterday said it would axe 114 jobs and shoulder a £51m accounting charge from the wind-down of a large part of its struggling cash equities business, scuppering hopes of a sale of the division. Icap is to cut the sales and research portion of its full service agency cash [...]
The stunning spectacles of 2010 March 22, 2010 AFTER what seems like the most drawn-out and oppressive winter in living memory, even the briefest chink of Spring sunlight can be enough to have one blinking as though into a bright new dawn. Well, good – all the more excuse to indulge in those most seasonal of fashion accessories, smart sunnies. Whether you’re whisking [...]
Insolvencies dip as firms see out storm March 22, 2010 THE number of companies declared insolvent fell last month, research showed today. A total of 1,834 firms went insolvent during the month – 15 per cent down on February last year, according to business information services group Experian. The group said the fall brought the overall rate of insolvencies down from 0.11 per cent to [...]
OUT OF OFFICE March 22, 2010 THE WHITE GUARD Following the success at the National Theatre of last year’s tales of communist Russia, Burnt by the Sun and Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, comes Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard. A lesser-known work by the Master and Marguerita author, adapted by Andrew Upton, it’s a story of the madness of [...]
Home prices hit a record high of £2.2m in London property hotspots March 22, 2010 HOME prices in London’s most upmarket districts have hit a record average of £2.2m, a survey showed yesterday. The most desirable areas in central London saw a 2.4 per cent monthly rise as wealthy foreign buyers circled for the properties. Among the biggest climbers this month was the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea which [...]
New venture for ex-Morgan Stanley man March 22, 2010 JONATHAN Chenevix-Trench, once investment bank Morgan Stanley’s most powerful executive in Europe, has stepped back onto the business radar by setting up an investment company focused on sub-Saharan Africa. Chenevix-Trench formerly spent 23 years at the bank, latterly as chairman of Morgan Stanley International. He left after the promotion he had been coveting – to [...]
City favourite banking on a revamp March 22, 2010 IT’S hardly as if the City’s been short of “sign of the times” changes, but another came late last year when Prism, the Harvey Nichols outpost that was one of the Square Mile’s grandest and most lauded fine-dining restaurants, was reborn as a brasserie and bar. That meant a back-to-basics menu emphasising cosy ingredients including [...]
