Tandem Bank’s chief executive Ricky Knox talks sarongs, dumb pipes, ornithology and why Facebook is scared of banking February 27, 2017 "Would you have called Amazon? I didn’t! We all thought that was just a fad – it was a bookseller. An online bookseller with that valuation? But the internet creates these giants – and it’s not just one or two of them. "Look at music – EMI is basically dead. Google – a little bulls*** [...]
Terra Firma boss Guy Hands on buying Agent Provocateur, dyslexia and moving on from multi-million EMI loss February 27, 2017 In June last year, Terra Firma dropped a £1.5bn lawsuit against Citi over the acquisition of EMI. It is reported that Guy took a €200m (£168m) hit to his personal fortune as a result of the deal. The Terra Firma boss alleged that Citi misled him into overpaying for the music publisher in 2007. How’s [...]
My best friend the algorithm is a better human than you are February 24, 2017 Thanks to my friends, I discover some outstanding TV drama from time to time. Like Lost, for example, or the first three seasons of Homeland. Two years ago, someone suggested that I watch a show. To be precise, they did not suggest, they insisted – indeed, demanded – sending me message after message which said: [...]
Horse racing betting tips: Steve looks just the job for punters at Kempton February 23, 2017 WITH just 18 days to go until the Cheltenham Festival, Saturday's Kempton card is pretty much the last chance for some horses to book their ticket to the party. The big race of the day is the BetBright Chase (3.35pm), where last year’s winner Theatre Guide will be hoping to perk up his trainer Colin [...]
The only direct flight between London Heathrow and Barbados will take off this year February 22, 2017 Virgin Atlantic has announced it will launch the only direct flight between London Heathrow and Barbados later this year. The twice weekly service, operating on Tuesdays and Saturdays, will start from 12 December 2017 to tempt those eyeing up Christmas in the Caribbean. Flights go on sale from this Saturday 25 February. The airline's codeshare with [...]
Life is sweet for Hotel Chocolat as it unveils a 28 per cent surge in first-half profits February 22, 2017 Life's pretty sweet for Hotel Chocolat at the moment: it has beaten expectations in its interim results and recorded a rise in profits too. The figures The chocolatier and retailer beat expectations with a tasty 28 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £11.2m in the first half of the financial year. Reported revenue rose 14 per [...]
An old Irish lady found one of the last £50k Jane Austen fivers and donated it to charity February 20, 2017 There's still a £5 engraved with a tiny portrait of Jane Austen floating around – after the last one was discovered and donated to charity. Back in December artist Graham Short declared he had engraved four of the Bank of England's new fivers with a tiny, 5mm, picture of the author, plus a quote from her [...]
Horse racing betting tips: Taquin looks value to upset Cue Card in Ascot Chase February 17, 2017 HATS off to the connections of Cue Card who this week scratched the lovable 11-year-old from next month’s Ryanair Chase, signifying their intentions to once again go for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The seven-time Grade One winner completes his preparations for this year’s Festival by running in Saturday's Ascot Chase (3.35pm), for which he is [...]
Argos fined £1.5m for not paying workers the national minimum wage February 16, 2017 Home Retail Group has been fined £1.5m for not paying 37,000 Argos workers the national minimum wage. The business said it was paying back current and previous workers £64 each, with the total cost coming to £2.4m. If the company pays back HM Revenue and Customs within 14 days, it will only have to pay £800,000. Read [...]
Italian parliament signs off on €20bn bank bailout fund, as country’s lenders creak under billions of euros of non-performing loans February 16, 2017 Italy's parliament has today given the thumbs up to the law which will create a €20bn (£17bn) bailout fund for the country's troubled banks. Parliament gave a decree for the bailout fund, which was issued by relatively new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the green light last December. Now, Bloomberg has reported the parliament's lower house has given final [...]