ANGER OVER COST OF SNOW FIASCO December 2, 2010 THE COST to the UK economy of the mounting chaos bought by the snow and unseasonally cold temperatures could be as much as £1.2bn a day, it was claimed yesterday. As the seventh day of the cold snap saw the disruption reach the south-east of England, with more than six inches of snow falling overnight, [...]
Snow chaos is turning UK into a joke December 2, 2010 BRITAIN’S humiliating inability to cope with winter conditions is becoming almost unbearable. Heavy snowfall is not a freak event. It now happens every year – and yet the authorities and transport companies appear utterly unable to learn any meaningful lesson from the annual debacle that is the onset of snow and bad weather. It is [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 2, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BANKS’ ASSET SELLING HINTS AT BETTER CONDITIONS Banks are selling some of the companies they took over from their private equity owners during the financial crisis, such as Swedish fridge-maker Dometic and German construction group DSI, indicating that the economic cycle is turning. Bargain-hunting private equity executives have been frustrated at the dearth [...]
CITY MOVES| WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 1, 2010 HSBC HSBC?has announced the appointment of Hossam Alsaady as head of its Saudi Arabia team within the London-based Middle East and North Africa division of its private banking business. Alsaady is moving over from his role at NCB Capital in Jeddah, where he has held several senior positions, most recently head of strategy. At HSBC, [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS November 30, 2010 NEW SCHRODERS PROPERTY FUND Schroders has announced the launch of a new property fund. The Schroder global property income maximiser fund will aim to provide a regular income stream through exposure to global property securities. Subject to FSA approval, it will be opened to investors in February 2011. The fund is broadly similar to Schroder’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up [...]
HSBC shuffles managers to focus on Asia November 28, 2010 HSBC reshuffled a number of senior managers over the weekend with new group chief executive Stuart Gulliver pointing to an increased focus on emerging markets when he takes over. Gulliver, who becomes boss of HSBC in January, said: “With the massive wealth creation we see in emerging markets today, the logic for HSBC to build [...]
Apprentices not just for sorcerers and Sugar November 28, 2010 THINK you know what an apprentice is? A working class youth in oily blue overalls with a spanner in his hands? The super self-confident types given missions impossible by Alan Sugar? Or Disney’s accident-prone mop-splitting sorcerer’s apprentice? Think again. We don’t often see apprentices in London, and more rarely still in the glittering spires of [...]
New appointments at HSBC November 26, 2010 HSBC’s chief executive-designate, Stuart Gulliver, announced changes to the bank’s top management and structure today. The changes are the first indication of his planned strategic direction before he formally steps into the chief executive role in January. Paul Thurston, the current UK and Europe chief executive, has been appointed chief executive of a newly created [...]
Double digit trading rise at John Lewis November 26, 2010 UPMARKET retailer John Lewis has reported strong trading figures over the past week after festive shoppers turned out to spend on Christmas. The department store chain took £88m in the week ending Saturday 20 November was up 11.5 per cent on the same period in 2009 and 29 per cent higher than 2008, the company [...]