Lastminute.com sold for £76m to Swiss travel firm December 16, 2014 TRAVEL site Lastminute.com, founded at the height of the dot.com boom in 1998, has been sold to Bravofly Rumbo Group in a £76m deal. The sale will see current owner, US-based Sabre, swallow a big loss, having bought the holiday site for £577m in 2005. Swiss company Bravofly made the winning bid yesterday, following a [...]
Watchdogs with City past wanted: FCA fines top £1.47bn as experience of executives called into question December 15, 2014 The City watchdog has issued over £1.47bn worth of fines to financial services firms so far this year, while issuing over 100 disciplinary measures such as bans. But, its critics say, it has done all this with an organisation that is lacking in commercial experience on its executive committee, its most senior board of full-time [...]
Former JJB Sports chief receives four-year jail term for £1m fraud December 15, 2014 THE FORMER chief executive of JJB Sports has been handed a four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of accepting more than £1m in backhanders from suppliers. Chris Ronnie was convicted last month of pocketing six-figure payments from three suppliers while in charge of the now-defunct retailer and failing to declare them to the board. [...]
Former JJB Sports chief executive Chris Ronnie receives four-year jail term for £1m fraud December 15, 2014 JJB Sports' former chief executive Chris Ronnie has been handed a four-year jail sentence for fraud. Ronnie was found guilty of taking around £1m-worth of backhanders from suppliers to the now-defunct sportswear retailer last month. The money was used to buy property in Florida, London's Southwark Crown Court heard. Handing down the sentence [...]
Alibaba moves London tech headquarters to Canary Wharf December 14, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has moved its London headquarters from Mayfair to Canary Wharf as the Docklands continues to develop as a rival tech hub to Old Street. Alibaba, which raised a record $25bn (£15.9bn) when it went public in September, is now based on Level 28 of the iconic One Canada Square, just below [...]
Weather bomb takes its toll on retail in the run up to Christmas December 14, 2014 Snow and rain across the north of Britain last week, the so-called weather bomb, took its toll on retail footfall as the number of shoppers heading to stores fell by 2.2 per cent. Retail parks shrugged off most of the drop with footfall rising 1.6 per cent during the week ending 13 December, but the [...]
City Moves for 11 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 10, 2014 Baringa James Belmont joins the management consultancy as director of its new risk analytics service. Belmont has over 15 years’ experience in consultancy and industry, and has held senior positions at Barclays, Alliance & Leicester and PA Consulting. Linklaters The law firm has appointed Scott Campbell as managing partner for the United Arab Emirates. The [...]
UK housing crash, Draghi quitting the ECB or “A-choco-lypse”? Here are Saxo Bank’s bonkers predictions for 2015 December 10, 2014 Could there be a UK housing market meltdown? Could Nigel Farage become deputy prime minister? Or worst of all, will there be an "a-choco-lypse"? These could be some of the most outrageous predictions you'll hear this year – or the best warning you ever had. Saxo Bank has just released its 10 scenarios for 2015 [...]
Where are the UK’s most powerful companies based? The FTSE 100 is more diverse than you think December 10, 2014 Conspiracy theorists may merrily refer to the "metropolitan elite", but it turns out that when it comes to the FTSE 100, the north-south divide is practically a myth: half of the companies on the index are based outside London, we've found, while others have made their homes all over the world Zoom out to see [...]
What are the best companies to work for in London? December 10, 2014 Google continues its bid for world domination, after being voted the best place to work in London. Perks such as free food, fun offices and time to work on personal projects have helped the California-headquartered firm top rankings of the best places to work in London, as well as the UK overall and the US. [...]