Whitbread sees bumper sales as Costa thrives September 6, 2012 WHITBREAD, the owner of the Costa Coffee chain and Premier Inn hotels, boasted thriving sales in the second quarter of the year after winning over customers during the Olympics with competitive room rates and cups of coffee. Shares in the FTSE 100 firm rose more than five per cent yesterday after it posted like-for-like sales [...]
Kobo battles for market share with tablet and e-reader launch September 6, 2012 KOBO is launching a new tablet device and a more compact e-reader as it seeks to expand its market share and battle with Apple and Amazon.com in the ultra-competitive mobile device marketplace. Toronto-based Kobo, owned by Rakuten, Japan’s top e-commerce operator, will launch the new devices in the next two months, as Amazon – the [...]
CapCo poised to win Earls Court approval September 6, 2012 CAPITAL & Counties (Capco) is poised to be given the go-ahead for its regeneration of Earls Court after Fulham and Hammersmith council officers recommended the £8bn scheme ahead of a planning meeting next week. Capco’s 77-acre masterplan designed by architect Sir Terry Farrell proposes to demolish the West Kensington site – which includes the Earls [...]
Data shows MPs cost £89m in expenses September 6, 2012 MEMBERS of parliament cost the country £89m for the 2011/12 financial year, according to figures released yesterday by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the body set up to monitor MPs’ costs in the wake of the expenses scandal. This is equivalent to around £136,000 for each of the country’s 650 constituencies and includes all wages, staff [...]
Hollande’s tax plan in doubt September 6, 2012 FRENCH President Hollande was last night reported to be considering retreating from his controversial 75 per cent marginal tax rate for those with incomes over €1m a year. The tax, which is due to be introduced at the start of next year, was one of Hollande’s key election pledges. A decision on how it will [...]
CBOE set to open London hub for trading on Vix index futures September 6, 2012 CBOE, which runs the oldest and largest US stock-options exchange, is planning to open a base in London for its fast-growing futures market as it tries to woo more clients from abroad. CBOE Futures Exchange will establish its first non-US hub in a London data centre next year, it said in a statement yesterday. The [...]
Moshi Monsters proves popularity with adults September 6, 2012 IT seems it is not just kids who look on in wonder when they see a Moshi Monster or a JCB digger – judges of this year’s Private Business Awards are clearly pretty impressed too. The awards, which celebrate UK’s private businesses, last night named construction and agricultural equipment maker JCB as the country’s top [...]
Top-earning rap stars bump up profits with business ventrues September 6, 2012 THEY say the music industry is dying, but despite – or perhaps because of – tough times for record sales, savvy musical entrepreneurs are finding new niches to apply their business acumen. Rap mogul Dr Dre, aka Andre Young, topped this year’s Forbes’ “Cash Kings” hip hop rich list not with a big tour, or [...]
Direct Line’s Geddes needs to sell himself or face failure September 6, 2012 LONDON’S capital markets have been cheered a little by news that Alisher Usmanov, the Russian tycoon that owns a large shareholding in Arsenal football club, intends to raise $4bn (£2.5bn) for mobile phone operator Megafon in the next few weeks. There have been too few IPOs this year and so anything that livens up the [...]
KfW in Deutsche Post share sale September 6, 2012 Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild yesterday raised €1bn through the sale of a stake in Deutsche Post for the German state development bank KfW. KfW will remain Deutsche Post’s largest shareholder after the placement with a holding of about 25.5 per cent, and has promised not to sell more shares for 90 days [...]
