CHEERS TO A GREAT SCOT February 25, 2010 Renowned artist Jack Vettriano was awarded the 2010 Johnnie Walker Blue Label Great Scot Award at a dinner held at the Boisdale of Belgravia restaurant yesterday. Vettriano is pictured here with his prize, a £3,000 bottle of the John Walker Whisky. Jack, who was presented with the award by last year’s inaugural winner Sir Jackie [...]
Landmark corporate trial begins February 25, 2010 Lawyers across the country will be watching as a landmark corporate court case begins today. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings becomes the first company to be tried under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act after being accused of a “gross breach” of duty in connection with the death of junior employee Alexander Wright, who was [...]
Ashmore seeking retail growth February 25, 2010 Emerging markets fund firm Ashmore yesterday said it would seek to grow its retail business to diversify its client base, as it boosted first-half profit due to good flows from emerging market sovereign wealth funds. Pre-tax profit leapt 40 per cent to £112m in the six months to end-December compared with the same period a [...]
Poor results for big names in telecoms February 25, 2010 France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom’s celebration of the merger between their Orange and T-Mobile brands in the UK will be muted after both reported disappointing annual results. Deutsche Telekom reported revenue of €64.6bn (£57.2bn), up 4.8 per cent on 2008, largely due to acquisitions. But full-year net income plummeted 76 per cent from €1.5bn in [...]
We must step up our game to beat French, says Williams February 25, 2010 FLANKER Martyn Williams insists Wales have to step up to the mark when they host tournament favourites France in Cardiff tonight. The Cardiff Blues star is set to equal Colin Charvis’ 94-cap Test best for a Wales forward, but knows there will need to be a significant improvement if it is to prove a winning [...]
Troubled Virgin Media turns the corner at last February 25, 2010 VIRGIN Media is a company with a troubled past. Having posted a full-year loss of £94.4m, it obviously still bears the scars. After 25 years of pain, however, the firm is finally turning a corner. The most impressive detail in yesterday’s results was the 28,600 net subscribers the firm signed up to its cable TV [...]
Every start is precious for Kellock after Azzurri axe February 25, 2010 SECOND-ROW Alastair Kellock will be hoping history does not repeat itself when his Scotland side face Italy tomorrow – even though they rallied to a record win. The Glasgow Warrior was making his first international start in two years against the Azzurri at Murrayfield 12 months ago – and helped them record a biggest ever [...]
Virgin results smash all expectations February 25, 2010 Virgin Media posted expectation beating results yesterday as earnings soared 15 per cent to £366m. Total revenue rose 3.3 per cent to £980m, driven by 6.1 per cent growth in its cable business. The firm added a staggering 40,600 new subscribers to its services and the average customer spent 5.8 per cent more than in [...]
Telecom Italia delays 2009 results February 25, 2010 Telecom Italia has delayed approving its 2009 results due to a probe into a money-laundering racket involving its Sparkle unit and broadband group Fastweb that could amount to more than €2bn (£1.8bn). Europe’s No.5 telecoms operator said it estimated virtually flat core profits, but had not approved the figures after authorities seized €300m from Sparkle [...]
Correction: Jo Bamford February 25, 2010 We printed a picture of Jo Bamford in yesterday’s edition. We incorrectly said that Bamford donated £400,000 to the Conservative party in the final quarter of 2009. Bamford did not make a donation to the Conservative party. We said he was chief executive of JCB, which he is not. The picture we printed of David [...]
