Luella stops trading after backer withdraws funds November 10, 2009 BRITISH fashion label Luella, whose fans include Cheryl Cole and Lily Allen, has ceased trading after its backers pulled out. Singapore-based retail group Club 21 pulled the plug on the brand yesterday following the collapse of one of designer Luella Bartley’s main producers in Italy last month. Bartley, who is best known for her party [...]
Pfizer closes research and development sites and cuts jobs after buying Wyeth November 10, 2009 PFIZER, the world’s biggest drugmaker, will close six research and development sites and cut jobs in both Britain and the US, following its acquisition of Wyeth. The company said it will reduce its global research and development square footage by 35 per cent. Pfizer will discontinue its R&D operations in Slough and Gosport, along with [...]
BoA chief defends his track record November 10, 2009 OUTGOING chief executive of Bank of America Ken Lewis yesterday defended his controversial tenure and said the bank is now primed to become a world-class company. “I am confident history will show that our actions … in building Bank of America positioned our company for future success,” Lewis told analysts at a Bank of America [...]
Thomson Reuters hit by EU probe into datafeeds November 10, 2009 THE European Union has launched a probe into financial data provider Thomson Reuters over fears that it is threatening competition by locking customers into its services. European Commission competition regulations said antitrust investigators would look at whether Thomson Reuters was abusing its market dominance by making it hard for customers to use third-party software to [...]
Eight indicted in card hack November 10, 2009 A US grand jury has indicted eight non-nationals on charges of hacking into a computer network used by credit card processing firm RBS WorldPay and stealing over $9m (£5.9m). The US Justice Department said yesterday that the group was accused of compromising the data encryption used by Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay, part of Royal Bank of [...]
Clubcard lifts Tesco’s share of customers November 10, 2009 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is growing market share for the first time in two years as it fights back at its rivals, industry figures show. Tesco’s double Clubcard points promotion – which cost the group around £5m a week – helped its share of the grocery market climb to 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks [...]
COMPETITION QUERIES November 10, 2009 FRENCH Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has warned that huge bailed-out banks created by the financial crisis could abuse their power. She has asked other countries to look at the lack of competition from banks “on steroids, relying on public money”. She said the lack of competition could also be pushing up bankers’ pay.
Agricole profit down November 10, 2009 CREDIT Agricole, France’s biggest retail bank, yesterday plucked a new chief executive from its influential regional divisions as it posted a widely-expected fall in third quarter profit. The group said yesterday that Jean-Paul Chifflet would replace Georges Pauget as chief executive in March next year. Chifflet’s current position is corporate secretary of the Federation Nationale [...]
Northern Foods reports modest profit rise while it plans job cuts November 10, 2009 FOOD manufacturer Northern Foods said it was on track to meet market expectations for the full-year and will invest £26.5m in its Fox’s biscuits brand over the next 18 months. The group, which makes Goodfella’s pizza and is Britain’s biggest maker of Christmas puddings, reported a pre-tax profit of £12.9m for the six months to [...]
Phone maker Ericsson to axe 700 jobs from UK operation November 10, 2009 Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson yesterday said it was to remove the bulk of its activities from a facility in central England with the loss of about 700 jobs. The firm said it was withdrawing its research and development and global service delivery activities from its operation in Coventry as part of its ongoing global [...]
