cruise control November 17, 2009 IF I told you that I recently indulged in a spot of mid-week mud-larking, then where would you picture me? The wilds of Scotland? The Yorkshire Dales? Well, not quite. This time I was in the EJ Churchill Sporting Ground near High Wycombe. When I emerge from my car, it sounds like I’ve arrived at [...]
FIGHT FOR CITY OPENS UP WITH A GOOD CUPPA November 17, 2009 IF THERE’S one City high-flier who finds it hard to say no to a new opportunity, it must be Stuart Popham, the jovial senior partner of legal giant Clifford Chance. Popham – in addition to his role at the head of the world’s largest law firm, his chairmanship of the CBI’s London council, and his [...]
C&W to raise 200m as it unveils demerger plan November 17, 2009 Telecoms group Cable & Wireless (C&W) is to split itself in two in a de-merger and tap the bond market to fund the deal. C&W will de-merge its worldwide unit, which supplies services to blue-chip companies in Europe, Asia and the US, from its international division, which provides fixed-line, mobile and broadband services in the Caribbean, [...]
Tesco finance unit shuns Lloyds and RBS assets November 17, 2009 Tesco is not interested in any assets bailed-out banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland will be forced to sell to satisfy EU antitrust worries, the head of Tesco Personal Finance said. Benny Higgins also said on the sidelines of the Euro Finance Week conference yesterday that Tesco might not launch a current account until [...]
Alchemy calls time on new investments November 17, 2009 Alchemy, the private equity firm that ousted its co-founder Jon Moulton two months ago, has closed its doors to new deals and is winding its existing portfolio down. The firm is understood to have stopped making any new investments – except bolt-ons to companies in its existing portfolio – and is expected to sell off [...]
Burberry to target shoes and purses as recovery takes hold November 17, 2009 BURBERRY is targeting growth in non-clothing ranges like shoes and purses in the economic recovery, the luxury goods group said yesterday, as it posted a smaller-than-forecast fall in first-half profit. Profit for the six months to the end of September fell 24 per cent to £56.8m from £74.8m a year ago. The 153-year-old group, sketching [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 17, 2009 Neptune Investment ManagementThe fund management boutique has appointed Robert Pickering, the former chief executive of blue-blooded bank JP Morgan Cazenove, to its board of directors. Pickering qualified as a solicitor with Allen & Overy in 1984 and joined Cazenove the following year. He spent a total of 23 years with the firm and was appointed [...]
Buffett ups his stake in Wal-Mart November 17, 2009 Billionaire Warren Buffett’s vehicle Berkshire Hathaway has made new investments in Nestlé and Exxon Mobil, and nearly doubled its investment in Wal-Mart. In a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Berkshire said it held 3.4m American depositary receipts of Nestlé, worth $144.7m (£86.2m), at 30 September. It also reported owning 1.28m shares of Exxon [...]
Ofcom backs local media consolidation November 17, 2009 An era of consolidation is on the cards for local media, after the industry watchdog Ofcom proposed a relaxation of ownership rules. The regulator has written to the government recommending that radio operators be allowed to consolidate around a local area, helping independent commercial operators compete with the state-funded BBC. They would also liberalise cross-media [...]
People still value the personal touch from banks November 17, 2009 LAST week saw the launch of NatWest’s personal banking iPhone app, in line with the banking sector’s efforts to cut costs and improve user experience by moving their operations online. Recent YouGov research undertaken on behalf of Deloitte points to the risks in an online strategy: customers place high value on face-to-face interactions in their [...]
