Walsh’s pay rises as BA struggles June 10, 2009 BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) boss Willie Walsh pocketed a six per cent pay rise last year, it emerged yesterday, despite a dismal year for the UK’s flag carrier. Walsh’s basic salary was £735,000 – up five per cent from £701,000 the previous year. His pension fund was also topped up to £90,000 from £81,000. The news [...]
Berlin backs bad bank plan June 10, 2009 THE GERMAN cabinet yesterday backed a “bad bank” plan for regional banks – known as Landesbanks – that would allow the publicly-owned lenders to offload toxic assets and make consolidation more likely, the finance ministry said. Under a deal brokered by Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck last week, German state leaders agreed to consolidate the Landesbank [...]
BAA suffers a traffic slump in downturn June 10, 2009 AIRPORT operator BAA said yesterday its passenger numbers for May had slumped for the 14th month in a row, as 11.8m passengers used its seven airports – down 7.3 per cent from a year ago. Stansted, one of three airports BAA is being forced to sell, was hit hardest, seeing its air traffic slump 18.5 [...]
Green & shoots more June 10, 2009 THE British salad is the last part of our home-grown cuisine to reach the level of the rest. We’ve got pies, roasts, pork bellies and mash down pat. Our heritage puddings have come back new and improved (sticky toffee pudding and creme brulee are the best they’ve been in London’s top restaurants now) and our [...]
Park Plaza hotel trading in line June 10, 2009 Park Plaza chief executive Boris Ivesha yesterday said trading for the five months to the end of May for the upmarket hotel chain is in line with management’s expectations. The group warned that the current environment was still “very challenging.”
Net-a-porter profits rocket June 10, 2009 Upmarket online fashion retailer Net-A-Porter.com reported a more than 230 per cent rise in 2008 profit after developing strong relationships with luxury fashion houses and new and existing clients. The company said it had benefited from exclusive collaborations with designers including Alexander McQueen. Pre-tax profit for the year ending January 2009 rose 234 per cent [...]
PZ Cussons lathers up its profits June 10, 2009 Imperial leather maker PZ Cussons yesterday said it expects full year profits to be in line with expectations, driven by strong growth from its new product lines. PZ Cussons bought the Sanctuary spa line of products last year for £75m and said that recent trading across all of its divisions had been strong.
Bank of Ireland to get new boss June 10, 2009 Bank of Ireland will name former chief executive Pat Molloy as chairman when incumbent Richard Burrows resigns next month, the bank said yesterday. Molloy, who is also a former chairman of building materials group CRH, will be appointed to the board of Bank of Ireland by the government, which has a 25 per cent indirect [...]
CITY VIEWS: DOES ANDY HORNBY DESERVE TO BE MADE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF ALLIANCE BOOTS? June 10, 2009 ANDREW SWAN AON“Everyone needs a job, don’t they? The fact is that he was clearly fairly good at his job despite what happened at HBOS and it would be wrong for him to take the blame for everyone else at the bank. Alliance Boots wouldn’t have given him the chief executive role if he wasn’t [...]
Mecom rights issue approved June 10, 2009 Debt-laden publisher Mecom yesterday gained approval from its shareholders to push ahead with its proposed £141m rights issue. Of the 63 per cent of shareholders which voted, 99.98 per cent were in agreement that the fundraising should go ahead.
