Travelodge can sleep tight as it wins CVA deal September 4, 2012 BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge has been saved from the brink of administration after landlords yesterday agreed to a controversial rescue deal that sees their rent takings slashed. The company voluntary arrangement (CVA) – voted through by 97 per cent of creditors and 96 per cent of landlords – allows Traveldoge to offload 49 of its [...]
City women slam EU plans to slap gender quotas on boards September 4, 2012 BRITISH businesswomen and City figures yesterday lined up to oppose European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding’s plan to impose EU gender quotas on UK businesses. Helena Morrissey, who founded the 30 Per Cent Club, which aims to put more women in boardrooms and was a nominee for City A.M.’s personality of the year award, rubbished the [...]
PwC overtakes KPMG as Britain’s biggest auditor September 3, 2012 BIG FOUR auditor PwC has leapfrogged its rival KPMG to become the top British auditor by client numbers, according to figures out yesterday. PwC only added three net new listed clients in the third quarter, but with a total of 370 it was enough to overtake KPMG, which lost a net 12 clients to put [...]
Business bank could raise risk of hit to state coffers September 3, 2012 CITY analysts, consultants and MPs yesterday rejected George Osborne’s plan for a business bank, claiming it would fail to help the economy and could end up doing more harm than good. Conservative Douglas Carswell argued this is not the time for the government to take financial risks by underwriting firms’ debts. “It is not as [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs September 3, 2012 AXA Real Estate Dietrich Heidtmann has been appointed global head of investor relations and capital markets at the real estate fund. He joins from Grosvenor, where he was responsible for capital raising and investor relations. Heidtmann has also held roles at Morgan Stanley International. Coface Frederic Bourgeois has been appointed managing director of the credit [...]
Bidders circle JJB Sports as sale kicks off September 2, 2012 THE SALE of JJB Sports has already attracted a string of potential bidders, giving the firm a chance to stave off administration. Better Capital, led by Jon Moulton, and retail investment specialist OpCapita are thought to be among the firms circling JJB as the sale process gets underway. The sportswear retailer put itself on the [...]
JJB shares dive as it looks for a white knight August 30, 2012 SEVERAL bidders have expressed interest in taking control of crisis-hit retailer JJB Sports, which was forced to put itself up for sale yesterday after failing to secure fresh funding from investors. The company, which has 180 stores and employs 4,000 people, has been locked in discussions with suppliers and investors in recents months in a [...]
City Moves Who’s switching jobs August 27, 2012 British Retail Consortium The BRC has appointed Ian Cheshire as chairman, taking over the two-year post from Rob Templeman on 1 October. Cheshire has been chief executive of Kingfisher since January 2008 and an executive director since June 2000. He has also been a non-executive director of Whitbread since February 2011. He serves as a [...]
KPMG warns UK staff will face job cuts August 23, 2012 KPMG has told staff it is planning hundreds of redundancies, with up to three per cent of its UK headcount at risk. The firm is the only one of the Big Four professional services firms to embark upon a redundancy programme in recent years. KPMG blamed “a subdued economy and fast-changing marketplace” in an email [...]
KPMG cuts own staff after warning bankers of job losses August 23, 2012 Professional services group KPMG warned just yesterday that bankers faced more job losses and pay cuts unless the economy improved. A day later and the firm was back in touch, announcing that there are going to be cuts in its own UK headcount of around 11,300 people. Yesterday the firm said it was carrying out [...]