It’s relief all round as Ramps finally joins the cricket elite August 6, 2008 While Surrey star Mark Ramprakash celebrates his 100th 100, David Jesudason tells how it wasn’t all plain sailing When Mark Ramprakash finally held his bat aloft in celebration of earning his place among the cricketing elite, it was a feeling of relief rather than elation which met with the crowd’s appreciation. The 38-year-old’s unbeaten 112 [...]
The buck stops here: the pressure is on for the US coffee shop giant August 6, 2008 With Starbucks posting its first ever losses, is our love affair with Americanos finally over? Starbuck is weird. It comes from Seattle, which means it is only the third thing ever to come out of that city that anybody has heard of, after Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. It also takes [...]
City crisis takes its toll on marriage August 6, 2008 Job-losses mean divorce rates are rocketing, finds Anusha Bradley When the credit crunch bit, it was clear that banks were going to suffer and that things would look grim for many businesses. What was less predictable was the effect that it would have on divorce rates. According to a survey commissioned by law firm Mishcon [...]
Rwanda has a pop at France for genocide August 6, 2008 Rwanda formally accused senior French officials yesterday of involvement in its 1994 genocide and called for them to be put on trial. Among those named in a report by a Rwandan investigation commission were former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and late President Francois Mitterrand. Kigali has previously accused Paris of covering up its [...]
Quintain cuts Wembley jobs August 6, 2008 Developer Quintain unveiled plans to slash costs yesterday, saying it was cutting jobs at its Wembley project and will pay no dividend for up to two years. The property company, which is redeveloping the 85 acres surrounding the north London Wembley stadium into a large retail, leisure and residential scheme, said it was axing over [...]
Warm reception for London’s priciest restaurants despite fears of recession August 6, 2008 A clutch of top-end London restaurants have enjoyed successful openings this summer, despite fears of a protracted economic downturn. In July, against a backdrop of doleful news in the property and financial sectors, Ambassade de L’Ile, with Chef Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex, opened its door to diners in francophone South Kensington, while the eponymous Helene Darroze at [...]
Drax profit falls on high carbon charge August 6, 2008 Drax, which runs Britain’s biggest coal-fired power station, saw its first half pre-tax profits fall 28 per cent yesterday to £206m as rising fuel and carbon emissions charges bit into its higher power prices. The large coal fired power station near Selby, Yorkshire, which produces around 7 per cent of Britain’s electricity, said sales rose [...]
Asia helps StandChart defy crunch August 6, 2008 Standard Chartered’s large presence in Asia helped it buck the banking trend yesterday, as it posted a 31 per cent rise in first-half profit. First-half pre-tax profit outstripped analysts’ expectations to reach a record figure of £1.32bn, as growth in the Asian economies continued apace despite a slowdown in the West. Chief executive Peter Sands [...]
Fortis profits halve on new writedowns August 5, 2008 Fortis was the latest bank to be hit by the credit crunch, as it announced interim profits down by 41 per cent, after a second wave of writedowns related to choppy credit markets. The troubled Belgian-Dutch group’s net profit slumped to €1.6bn (£1.3bn) from €2.8bn in the first six months as the bank took €591m [...]
Construction plunges August 5, 2008 Construction activity fell to a record low in July, driven by the collapse of the housing market and the stuttering economy, the latest survey showed yesterday. According to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s construction PMI, building levels fell to 36.7 last month, from 38.8 in June. Any reading below 50 means the sector [...]
