Troika ask Greek ministers to allow six day working week September 4, 2012 THE BODY overseeing Greece’s bailout will require the country to remove the restriction on working a six-day week, a leaked email sent to two Greek ministries revealed yesterday. The troika, made up of IMF, EU and European Central Bank representatives, are overseeing the Greek aid package. Its members want Greece to cut labour market restrictions. [...]
City women slam EU plans to slap gender quotas on boards September 4, 2012 BRITISH businesswomen and City figures yesterday lined up to oppose European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding’s plan to impose EU gender quotas on UK businesses. Helena Morrissey, who founded the 30 Per Cent Club, which aims to put more women in boardrooms and was a nominee for City A.M.’s personality of the year award, rubbished the [...]
Tesco snaps up Andy McNab’s ebook platform September 4, 2012 TESCO yesterday stepped up its digital expansion as it spent £4.5m on Mobcast, the digital book platform provider co-founded by SAS veteran and best-selling war novelist Andy McNab. The deal comes hot on the heels of Tesco taking a 91 per cent stake in the internet radio service We7 in June and its acquisition of [...]
Marks & Spencer shakes up its general merchandising team September 4, 2012 MARKS & SPENCER yesterday said it has hired Stephanie Chen, a senior director at House of Fraser, to be its new director of kidswear and home, as it revealed a shake-up of its general merchandising team. The retailer said John Dixon had made changes to the team as he prepares to take up his new [...]
Whitbread to hire Cadbury September 4, 2012 WHITBREAD, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, yesterday announced it has poached Nicholas Cadbury to be its new finance director from electronics components group Premier Farnell. Cadbury will succeed Christopher Rogers, who has become managing director of Costa. Rogers’ move, which was announced in April, sparked speculation that Whitbread planned to spin off [...]
FedEx slashes profit forecast September 4, 2012 PACKAGE delivery giant FedEx last night cut its profit outlook for the current quarter, saying weakness in the global economy was hurting demand for overnight international shipments more than anticipated. The warning, which followed a similar move from rival UPS in July, sent the firm’s US-listed shares down 3.5 per cent in after-hours trading.
Canaccord hires former Lazard man to head Europe September 4, 2012 ALEXIS de Rosnay, the investment banker named yesterday as the new European head of Canaccord Genuity, has charged himself with raising the firm’s morale as it struggles to come to terms in difficult markets with the £253m merger of Collins Stewart Hawkpoint at the end of last year. De Rosnay, who has had a career [...]
Ryanair bullish on Aer Lingus September 4, 2012 RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary believes he can make a deal with competition authorities to clear the way for his takeover of rival airline Aer Lingus. O’Leary told reporters yesterday: “We are confident that the remedies package will be enough to satisfy competition issues. “There are 46 cross over routes and we will remedy all [...]
PwC to probe RBS IT failures September 4, 2012 AN INDEPENDENT team from PwC has been appointed to head the Financial Services Authority’s investigation into the systems meltdown that hit tens of thousands of RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers earlier this year. The regulator wants a thorough investigation to find out exactly how well the bank has done at taking steps to make [...]
Greene King and Spirit pubs post sales rise September 4, 2012 BRITISH pubs and brewery group Greene King said sales at its own pubs grew 5.1 per cent despite an unusually wet summer, sending its shares up more than four per cent yesterday. The 213-year-old Suffolk-based firm, which owns brands such as Hungry Horse and Old English Inns, said like-for-like food sales rose 5.2 per cent [...]
