HISCOX COMES OUT OK! IN DESMOND LIBEL CONTEST July 27, 2009 ONE of the biggest winners in the recent Richard Desmond versus Tom Bower libel trial was Hiscox, the insurer backing Bower’s publishers. Like everybody else on the Bower side, Hiscox underwriter Ian Birdsey spent an anxious last day at the trial as the jury deliberated over its decision. Within an hour of the verdict, though, [...]
MIXED ROUNDERS July 27, 2009 THE time is fast approaching for the annual cricket match between financial public relations executives and the people who write stories about their clients run by James Melville-Ross of Financial Dynamics. This year there is a welcome addition to the proceedings since Anna White of the PwC press team has decided to organise a mixed [...]
COFFEE BEAN COUNTERS July 27, 2009 IT may come as something of a surprise but accountancy can be something of a bitchy world. So, ever since KPMG won the account as administrators to the coffee chain Coffee Republic earlier this month, there have been rumours that it did so by undercutting some of its rivals on fees. Not so, says KPMG. [...]
CITY EYE GISSA JOB July 27, 2009 NORMAN Tebbitt advised the unemployed to get on their bike to look for work. Today’s generation may be a bit more imaginative if Alex Kearns is anything to go by. Alex, whose brother works in the City, is atop one of the plinths in Trafalgar Square. His CV is being brandished for the benefit of [...]
W11 scores a gastropub bullseye July 27, 2009 The Clarendon123a Clarendon Road, W11 4JGTel: 020 7229 1500www.theclarendonlondon.comCost per person without wine: £25 AS I CRAMMED homemade fish fingers into my mouth via a glob of chivey aioli, hungry after my trek into deepest Holland Park, I thanked the food gods for the continuing and improving presence of gastropubs in London. The Clarendon is [...]
THE SUMMER’S TOP GASTROPUBS July 27, 2009 THE ALBION, ISLINGTON 10 THORNHILL ROAD, N1 1HW. TEL: 020 7607 7450Arguably the best Sunday lunch spot in north London’s trendier parts, this recently relaunched pub is a bastion of the Best of British gastro-glory tradition. Aside from blinding roasts, everything from the bar-snacks (enormous, fresh-made pork scratchings and bone marrow) to the meaty mains [...]
Aberdeen heralds end to torrent of investor outflows July 27, 2009 ABERDEEN Asset Management heralded an end to precipitous client withdrawals yesterday, after it saw a modest net redemption of £2.2bn from its funds in the quarter to end-June. This was thanks to renewed interest in its equity funds, mainly those funds focused on investing in Asia Pacific, emerging markets and global equities, although its bond [...]
Cowdery will not be put off Friends deal July 27, 2009 RESOLUTION, Clive Cowdery’s buyout vehicle, is determined to fight on with plans to take over Friends Provident despite an unequivocal merger rejection from the life insurer yesterday. The buyout firm believes a deal will take place, whether it is a friendly transaction that keeps Friends’ board in place or a hostile takeover, according to a [...]
ANALYST VIEWS WAS FRIENDS PROVIDENT RIGHT TO REJECT RESOLUTION’S TAKEOVER APPROACH? July 27, 2009 DUNCAN HALL FINNCAP“My view is that Resolution was putting out a pretty forceful, self-declamatory stance, basically claiming they had all the answers in the universe, that nobody else had. In this case Friends felt they are not convinced by that line so yes they were right. But, that is not to say there aren’t issues [...]
Pernod Ricard sells July 27, 2009 Tia Maria Drinks company Pernod Ricard yesterday announced the disposal of coffee liqueur Tia Maria to Illva Saronno for a cash consideration of ? 125m (£107.7m) on a cash free/debt free basis. The transaction was lower than the ?200m Pernod hoped to make from the sale. The sale of Tia Maria, together with other disposals, [...]
