McLoughlin is upbeat on HS2 October 9, 2012 TRANSPORT secretary Patrick McLoughlin insisted yesterday that the failure of the West Coast franchise competition will not scupper the chances of the High Speed 2 route linking London to the north. He told an event at the Conservative conference that he would not review the case for HS2 in light of the franchise fiasco. McLoughlin [...]
Karen Millen opens first store in China October 9, 2012 KAREN MILLEN opened its first store in China today as part of its ambitious plans to roll-out 60 stores across the country over the next five years. The fashion chain, which has 350 stores and concessions worldwide, also revealed plans to launch a local language website in spring next year along with a second store, [...]
Ryanair bows out of Stansted Airport auction October 9, 2012 RYANAIR yesterday dropped its efforts to buy a stake in Stansted, blaming the airport’s owner Ferrovial for refusing to engage. The budget carrier has written to all of its potential bidding partners to withdraw from the process, citing “Ferrovial’s decision to exclude Ryanair from the Stansted sale”. Ryanair had been looking to take a 25 [...]
West Coast train disaster highlights Virgin’s appeal October 9, 2012 LAST Wednesday the government scrapped the award of the West Coast Mainline franchise to First Group. Although the public will take a dim view of the technical flaws in the bidding process (by 51 per cent to 18 per cent in a YouGov/Sunday Times poll they thought former transport secretary Justine Greening should resign) there [...]
News Corp shareholders told to throw out Murdoch as chairman October 9, 2012 INFLUENTIAL shareholder advice group Pirc has told investors to overthrow Rupert Murdoch as News Corp chairman at next week’s annual meeting, calling for independence at the head of the company. Murdoch, who holds both the chief executive and chairman positions at News Corp, cannot provide “independent oversight” and “lines of accountability” while serving in both [...]
Property firm PointPark eyes a London float October 9, 2012 EUROPEAN warehouse operator PointPark Properties yesterday announced plans to raise £250m in a float on the London Stock Exchange, marking the first IPO in the real estate sector for two years. The property group said it plans to use the proceeds to buy a €760m (£612m) portfolio of properties that it currently manages on behalf [...]
Fraud squad plans tougher reporting rules October 9, 2012 FIRMS that admit internal bribery failings to the UK’s anti-fraud regulator are now more likely to face criminal prosecutions, under tough new rules issued by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday. In an update to its guidance on last year’s Bribery Act, the SFO said: “The revised policies make it clear that there will be [...]
UK firms hit three year low for overseas M&A October 9, 2012 BRITAIN is close to losing its crown as the second largest buyer of foreign companies in the world amid plunging overseas volumes for UK firms, figures out yesterday show. Mergers and acquisition deals involving a British firm buying an overseas company fell 35 per cent to 63 in the first three quarters of this year [...]
Julius Baer to cut 1,000 jobs October 9, 2012 SWISS private bank Julius Baer will cut up to around 1,000 jobs as a result of its purchase of part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s wealth management business. Baer said it planned a “significant reduction of former Bank of America corporate overhead” as well as cuts to the middle and back office functions of [...]
Eversheds hands Bryan Hughes second term as chief executive October 9, 2012 BRYAN Hughes will remain as chief executive of Eversheds until at least 2017, the law firm said yesterday, after he won an uncontested leadership election. Hughes replaced David Gray as chief executive in 2008, and earlier this year announced a new three-year strategy for the firm, including proposals to move to a Swiss verein structure [...]
