City’s big fish at Legal Awards November 25, 2012 LAST Thursday night saw the City’s best lawyers get the weekend off to a traditional early start as Legal Week magazine invited them to Old Billingsgate Market to celebrate the British Legal Awards 2012. The annual black-tie bash, again held at the City fish market, was filled with tables from all the big firms. Host [...]
Row your boat gently down the Atlantic say three City boys November 25, 2012 THREE City boys and former army officers – Ed Janvrin, consultant at PwC, Alex Mackenzie, consultant at McKinney Rogers and Will Dixon, business manager at Barclays – stripped off their suits to row across the Atlantic in aid of charity Row2Recovery earlier this year. The mission, conceived by Janvrin and Mackenzie, was undertaken by a [...]
Dunstone eyes iconic burger chain franchise November 25, 2012 FIVE Guys Burgers and Fries, the cult US burger chain favoured by President Barack Obama, is set to branch out in London after Carphone Warehouse founder Sir Charles Dunstone moved to bring the famous restaurants across the Atlantic. Sir Charles, who founded Carphone Warehouse in 1986, is understood to have struck a deal through his [...]
Savoy close to £290m debt pile refinancing November 25, 2012 THE owners of London’s lavish Savoy Hotel are understood to be closing in on a deal to roll over almost £290m of debt after tapping up two European banks to take on the borrowings. The iconic hotel, which was snapped up in a joint venture by Lloyds Banking Group’s Bank of Scotland unit and Saudi [...]
US probes Swiss bank Pictet November 25, 2012 Swiss private bank Pictet is under investigation by the US authorities, the bank said yesterday, making it the latest Swiss bank to come under scrutiny in a US probe into the use of foreign banks by wealthy Americans seeking to avoid paying tax. Pictet said in a statement the US Department of Justice had made [...]
Egypt stocks plunge after unrest November 25, 2012 Egypt’s stock market plunged yesterday in its first day open since President Mohamed Mursi’s seizure of new powers set off violence and a political crisis, unravelling efforts towards stability after last year’s revolution. More than 500 people have been injured in protests since Friday, when Egyptians awoke to news Mursi had issued a decree widening [...]
Black Friday sales top $1bn November 25, 2012 Black Friday retail sales online this year topped $1bn for the first time ever as more consumers used the internet for their early holiday shopping, comScore Inc said yesterday. Online sales jumped 26 per cent on Black Friday to $1.04bn from sales of $816m on the same day last year, according to comScore data.
Moonpig signs off year with jump in profits November 25, 2012 MOONPIG.COM, the online greetings card company, reported a 20 per cent rise in sales last year driven by growth at both its core and personalised card divisions. The internet retailer, founded 12 years ago by ex-commodities trader Nick Jenkins, said sales rose £7m to £45.8m in the year to 30 April. Profits jumped 10 per [...]
Smartphones take centre stage in the Christmas shopping rush November 25, 2012 CONSUMERS will not be far from their smartphones when stocking up on gifts this Christmas, with some £3.5bn sales expected to be purchased on or influenced by smartphones, according to business advisory firm Deloitte. The accountancy firm predicts 10 per cent of in-store Christmas sales (£3.2bn) will be influenced by smartphones, with another £330m of [...]
The Trainline rides to profit on strong sales November 25, 2012 Rail ticket website thetrainline.com boosted pre-tax profits by one third last year as an increasing number of train passengers shunned station ticket offices in favour of buying fares online, company accounts revealed yesterday. The business, which is owned by private equity group Exponent Private Equity, said bargain-savvy train travellers helped propel turnover to £106m from [...]
