CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 21, 2010 Royal London Asset Management The asset management firm has promoted Ian Goulsbra to the role of head of wholesale relationships, effective immediately Goulsbra joined RLAM in 2007 as a business development manager for the south of England. He was previously at Premier Asset Management, where he was head of institutional sales, and also spent time [...]
Pace set for World Cup sales boost April 19, 2010 PACE, the set-top box maker, is expecting a World Cup sales boost as operators role out high-definition TV ahead of the summer football tournament. The UK-based company said sales in the first half of the year will outpeform the second six months as millions tune into the World Cup. However trading for the overall year [...]
Demand for bank shares lifts FTSE 100 to a 22-month high April 15, 2010 THE FTSE 100 share index hit a 22-month high for the second day yesterday, as US data and earnings reports fanned hopes that a recovery in the world’s largest economy was gathering pace, with banks also buoyed by bullish broker comment. The FTSE 100 closed 28.76 points higher at 5,825.01 – its highest close since [...]
Quinn has a second chance April 11, 2010 LIKE BT Group, the former state-owned telecoms firm, Qinetiq has struggled to shake off its public sector ethos since it was privatised in 2003. It has a remarkably impressive history; starting life as the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (Dera), its scientists invented the liquid crystal display and carbon fibre. But a prohibitively expensive cost [...]
New British Airways fund chief April 11, 2010 British Airways has named Paul Spencer as the chairman of its pension trustees. Spencer, the former head of National Savings & Investments, is also a trustee of the Rolls-Royce, BT and BAT pension schemes. He is set to play a crucial role in BA’s planned merger with Spanish airline Iberia. Iberia has said it would [...]
Ofcom cuts Premier footy prices March 31, 2010 MEDIA regulator Ofcom has slashed the price BSkyB can charge its rivals to screen its sports packages. It cut the wholesale price for Sky Sports 1 by 24 per cent to £10.63 a month. It means rivals BT and Virgin will be able to undercut Sky and chip away at its vast 9.5m subscriber base. [...]
Ofcom feels the heat over sports ruling March 31, 2010 OFCOM faced a fierce backlash to its landmark ruling yesterday as broadcasters and sporting bodies rounded on the embattled regulator. BSkyB vowed to carry out its threat to fight the ruling through the courts, hiring high powered City law firm Herbert Smith. The decision means the wholesale prices Sky is allowed to charge rivals including [...]
TalkTalk walks the walk March 29, 2010 SOMETIMES the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole. The demerger of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk is the logical step for a company whose level of growth and evolution had started to trip itself up. TalkTalk fared well in trading today. The UK’s number one residential broadband provider, supplying over 4m homes, [...]
Talk Talk March 29, 2010 TalkTalk boasts being the UK’s biggest consumer broadband provider, supplying 4.2m homes. It also provides stand-alone fixed line services. It uses BT’s existing copper connections for its regular broadband. It also provides BT’s bundled superfast fibre connections on a wholesale basis, albeit with greatly reduced margins. It is looking at ways to roll out its [...]
Boots refuses to back Hewitt after lobbygate March 23, 2010 ALLIANCE Boots is refusing to back special consultant Patricia Hewitt, after she was sensationally suspended from the Labour Party over the cash for lobbying scandal. A spokesperson for the leading pharmacy chain said her contract was “still in place” and that it was being “reviewed regularly”, but she would not confirm that the former health [...]