No austerity bite at Conran restaurants September 18, 2012 REVENUES at the London outposts of Terence Conran’s restaurant group, D&D London, have grown by four per cent over the past year as customers flocked to his eateries including Quaglino’s, Coq D’Argent (roof terrace pictured) and Bluebird. Overall, turnover rose 2.5 per cent to £75.5m.
JD Sports profit hit by losses at Blacks Leisure September 18, 2012 JD SPORTS reported an expected 82 per cent drop in first half pre-tax profit yesterday as operating losses from its Blacks Leisure acquisition weighed on the group, but said it remained well positioned to hit full-year targets. The clothing and footwear firm, which sells merchandise from top brands such as Nike and Adidas, said yesterday [...]
Two sides go to war over a giant defence tie-up – both must win September 18, 2012 A BATTLE between political and commercial interests is being played out over the proposed merger of BAE and EADS. The captains of industry want to test out their strategic vision by creating the world’s largest defence group; the politicians claim the right to protect their assessment of the national interest whatever the commercial consequences. Unlike [...]
Serica farms out to JX Nippon September 18, 2012 ■ Serica Energy yesterday sold an 85 per cent interest in the UK central North Sea block 22/19c to Japan’s JX Nippon for $250,000 (£153,900). JX Nippon will carry Serica’s share of future costs associated with the licence for the drilling of an exploration well in the area. Serica previously drilled in the prospect with [...]
Stobart appoints deputy CEO September 18, 2012 ■ Logistics group Stobart has appointed Avril Palmer-Baunack as executive director and deputy chief executive. Palmer-Baunack joined the group following Stobart’s recent acquisition of Autologic Holdings. William Stobart has been reappointed as executive director of the group and will rejoin the board, while Richard Butcher becomes chief executive of Stobart Estates. All three appointments are [...]
MPs demand more action on youth jobs September 18, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT’S flagship jobs programme will not do enough to tackle the problem of youth unemployment, a leading group of MPs has said in a report out today. Members of the work and pensions select committee say the coalition’s £1bn Youth Contract is a good start but “not enough on its own” given the scale [...]
Strong London house market is behind UK-wide price increases September 18, 2012 LONDON house prices boomed in July, once again driving a modest boost in average UK prices, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday. UK prices increased two per cent overall in the year to July, the data showed, spurred on by London prices which soared 5.7 per cent in the same period. [...]
UK economic confidence stuck in a rut as US recovers September 18, 2012 THE September data for YouGov’s HEAT (Household Economic Activity Tracker) is out and I’m afraid to report that it continues to tell the same story that we have seen for the last few months – Britain’s economic confidence is stuck in a rut, neither improving nor worsening. The Index score is at 93 (out of [...]
Ofcom pays out on redundancy September 18, 2012 ■ Ofcom spent millions on redundancies over the last five years, even as it hired more staff than it let go, The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) revealed yesterday. The communications regulator spent £9.4m on redundancy payments, in a period when it hired 598 staff and only made 223 redundant. “Poor planning by Ofcom has left taxpayers [...]
DMGT offloads events business September 18, 2012 ■ Daily Mail and General Trust yesterday announced it had agreed to sell leadership and conference business Evanta to Leeds Equity Partners for £58m in a bid to pay down some of its debts. The firm said the deal for Evanta, which made £5m profit on the back of revenue streams of £16m last year, [...]
