Businesses are not out of the woods just yet January 13, 2010 DAVID HUDSON LONDON HEAD OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY, BAKER TILLY WHILE businesses fail during recessions, many also fail coming out, having spent the cash reserves during the hard times that they so crucially need when they have to grow again to serve a more confident customer base, against revitalised competition. The underlying message of Baker Tilly’s [...]
How a wedding-phobic divorcee came to fall in love with marriage January 13, 2010 COMMITTED BY ELIZABETH GILBERT Bloomsbury, £12.99 ELIZABETH GILBERT shot to fame with her memoir Eat, Pray, Love – it was such a hit that a film version starring Julia Roberts is set for release later this year. At the end of that tale of recovery following a grisly, heart-rending divorce and a long period of [...]
OUT OF OFFICE January 13, 2010 ICE SCULPTURE COMES TO CANARY WHARF If it’s a winter challenge that combines skill, beauty and speed, it must be ice-sculpting. Five teams from Europe descend on the Wharf this week to compete against the clock to carve 2m square blocks of ice into shapes suggestive of commerce and adventure, such as ships riding big [...]
It’s time to hunker down in a cosy pub January 13, 2010 THE JERUSALEM TAVERN, CLERKENWELL Yes it’s a classic and an obvious choice, but there’s still no finer place to hunker down and enjoy a few pints of beer. And what beer it is. This Farringdon pub serves the full range of the very fine St Peter’s beers, including their Organic bitter, blackberry, nettle and gooseberry [...]
Union warns that 7,000 Cadbury jobs under threat January 13, 2010 UNION leaders have warned that up to 7,000 jobs could be lost if Kraft’s hostile bid for chocolate maker Cadbury is successful. Unite claim Kraft’s £22bn of debt would put the company under pressure and lead to jobs being axed. The union has issued a briefing to Cadbury investors asking them to put the wider [...]
RBS boss: My parents think I’m overpaid January 12, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland’s chief executive yesterday admitted his parents think he is paid too much even as he staged a staunch defence of the bank’s right to hand out bonuses. Stephen Hester, who stands to make £10m if he can turn around the beleaguered lender, signalled he understood public anger over bumper payouts following [...]
Wall Street levy to raise $100bn January 12, 2010 THE Obama administration could net more than $100bn (£62bn) with its planned special levy on Wall Street’s giants, it emerged yesterday. Officials are mulling a levy on America’s top banks to tap into anti-Wall Street sentiment ahead of the earnings season. The scheme has yet to be officially confirmed but is being spun as a [...]
SEC sues BoA over Merrill January 12, 2010 The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday sued Bank of America for a second time over its takeover of Merrill Lynch, accusing the bank of failing to disclose huge losses at Merrill before shareholders voted on the merger. The SEC filed its civil lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court, a day after a judge [...]
UK Plc has much to learn from Tesco January 12, 2010 NAPOLEON Bonaparte was right: Britain is a nation of shopkeepers. Tesco’s great figures yesterday confirm that the retailer remains one of the UK’s few truly world-class corporate giants. Group sales increased by 7.5 per cent at constant exchange rates and like-for-like UK sales (ex-fuel and adjusted for Vat) were up by 4.9 per cent in [...]
King quiet until election January 12, 2010 BANK of England governor Mervyn King will hold off criticising the government in the run-up to the general election, it was reported yesterday. The former LSE professor is expected to maintain a ceasefire until polling day amid concerns his opposition to Treasury policies has handed political ammunition to the Conservative party. King first caused controversy [...]
