US stocks gain in thin trading before holiday July 3, 2012 US stocks extended a rally for a third day in a shortened trading session yesterday as sharp gains in oil prices lifted energy shares and traders factored in increased expectations for central bank stimulus. A raft of weak economic data has raised hopes that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to a record [...]
Pwc’s PARTNERSHIP: the new recruits June 28, 2012 TAX Fiona Camenzuli Dean Farthing Ben Flockton Janette Jones Scott Lindsay Philip Martinos Tim McCann Darrel Poletyllo Lucy Redding Lachlan Roos Ben Wilkins Paul Wolstenholme ADVISORY Mark Anderson Antony Cook Jeff Ford Celine Herweijer John Lyons Edward Macnamara Richard Major David Morris Brendan O’Driscoll Neil O’Keeffe Will Richardson Dan Stott Jeremy Webb ASSURANCE Lee Clarke [...]
Microsoft buys $1.2bn Yammer June 25, 2012 MICROSOFT yesterday finally admitted it was buying online networking firm Yammer for $1.2bn (£770.5m), allowing the tech giant to offer a social network to corporate customers. Four-year-old Yammer has 5m users of its private, in-company social networks and counts Deloitte and Ford among its clients. The service should fill a gap that Microsoft was struggling [...]
ADVISERS June 19, 2012 DAVID PATERSON HERBERT SMITH David Paterson, a partner and head of corporate at law firm Herbert Smith, was the lead legal adviser acting for Hammerson on the sale of its London portfolio. Paterson, who joined the firm in 1986, is longstanding adviser to Hammerson, acting on its £584m rights issue and on its conversion to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 18, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Sants: City’s status under threat London’s position as a global financial centre is under threat because the UK financial sector is not rethinking its business models quickly enough in the face of a new political atmosphere and regulatory change, says Hector Sants, the departing chief executive of the FSA. Sants warned that banks, [...]
Union plans walkout at Ford June 17, 2012 MEMBERS of the Unite union will this morning begin a 24-hour strike over pay and pensions at Ford. Up to 1,200 workers are expected to walk out of the carmaker’s sites in Dagenham, Bridgend, Halewood and Southampton over wages and plans to close the company’s final salary scheme to new employees. “Ford remains willing and [...]
Microsoft said to fancy $1bn social network June 14, 2012 ENTERPRISE social network Yammer could be snapped up by tech giant Microsoft in a $1bn deal announced as soon as today, according to reports. Set up by former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks in 2008, Yammer is used for private communication within organisations, unlike public microblogging tool Twitter or friends-based social network Facebook. Microsoft’s step [...]
All aboard: the QM2 does the Atlantic in style June 10, 2012 LEAVING the glamorous glitzy Big Apple on a big glitzy ship felt right. Berthed in the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the sharp-prowed Queen Mary 2 looked both huge and majestic. On our taxi ride to the terminal our driver bypassed the anti-capitalist demonstrators in Wall Street, so named for the barrier the Dutch built in the [...]
Summer is here: now do it in style May 29, 2012 WHERE TO GET IT: >> Tom ford Cyrille shades, £233, amazon.co.uk >> Hackett check shirt, £110, johnlewis.com >> Chapman Bags canvas iPad day-bag, £115, my-wardrobe.com >> Slowear yellow pants, £195, MrPorter.com >> Grenson leather brogues, £195, MrPorter.com WHERE TO GET IT: >> Hartford straw trilby, £100, MrPorter.com >> Ellery Keith shades, £300, eyegoodies.com >> Robert Graham “Echoes” sport jacket, £349, robert-fuller.co.uk [...]
CAR TALK May 29, 2012 Is the new Ford Focus ST a tangerine dream? The Ford Focus ST will cost from £21,995 when it goes on sale in June. Powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged EcoBoost engine, the new Focus ST develops 247bhp, yet can return 39.2mpg with CO2 emissions of 169g/km. The car has a unique suspension and upgraded steering [...]