Hopes of a deal fade at Copenhagen December 17, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown yesterday moved to dampen expectations of the outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference, as China indicated a detailed agreement would be out of the question. Brown warned world leaders that future generations would blame them for risking the survival of the human race if they failed to reach an accord this [...]
Hotel owner MWB to raise fresh funds to prevent breach of banking covenant December 17, 2009 MWB, THE property investment group which owns the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin hotel chains, yesterday announced plans to raise £27.5m via a share placing to mitigate the impact of the recession on its empire. The group said it would issue 91.7m new shares in the placing at a price of 30p per share – [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE WILL MAKE AN IMPACT? December 17, 2009 ANGUS MACLENNAN | ANGMAC LIMITED “I think that because there are massive issues at stake in Copenhagen, it’s important that the nations involved seize the opportunity to accomplish something. I fear that because there are so many different countries in talks, their vested national interests may get in the way of the importance of working [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 Arriva is optimistic for 2010 The operator of the CrossCountry rail franchise has said that there had been a “substantial improvement” in passenger revenues in recent weeks. In a trading update, Arriva reported a 2.1 per cent rise in CrossCountry revenues for the year to date, accelerating to a gain of 6.1 per cent over [...]
M&B opens door to rebel appointments December 17, 2009 PUB and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers has invited the four candidates put forward to join its board by rebel shareholder Joe Lewis to meet with headhunters and its nomination committee. The operator of All Bar One and Harvester yesterday said the meetings would enable it to formulate its recommendations as to how shareholders should [...]
ECB to spend €1bn on new HQ December 17, 2009 The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday gave itself the go-ahead to build a new €1bn (£890m), 48-storey HQ, giving it a permanent home for the first time and drawing a line under years of delays and setbacks. The proposed design in Frankfurt’s rundown east end has two twisted interlocking towers built round the city’s former [...]
Toronto Dominion fined £7m for scrutiny failure December 17, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday fined Canada’s Toronto Dominion Bank £7m, the regulator’s fourth-biggest penalty ever, for failing to scrutinise the prices used by its traders. The FSA, which has handed out a record £27.8m in penalties for fraud, market abuse and inadequate controls this year, said the fine reflected Toronto Dominion’s failure to [...]
Perkins sees a boost in its DIY branch December 17, 2009 RETAIL group Travis Perkins gave a glimmer of hope to retailers yesterday, as it reported a steady improvement in its DIY arm Wickes. Perkins, which also owns chains Tile Giant and Toolstation, added that it was seeing positive moods in the builders’ merchant market. The group said earnings for the full year would be towards [...]
Expansion curtailed as profits slump at restaurant group Clapham House December 17, 2009 THE company behind restaurants Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek has suffered a 13 per cent slump in profits – scuppering any major expansion plans next year. Clapham House Group – whose Tootsies chain closed in October – said trading conditions remained “pretty challenging”. However, the firm claimed there were signs that things were [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 FedEx puts out negative forecast FedEx forecast third-quarter profit below analysts’ expectations yesterday, casting doubt on the sustainability of its holiday volume surge, and sending the package delivery giant’s shares down 4.5 per cent. The company, an economic bellwether, said it shipped 14.1m packages on Monday, its busiest day of the year, which was a [...]
