Land Secs set to restart its £350m mall July 21, 2010 THE UK’S largest real estate investment trust Land Securities will restart work on a £350m shopping centre in Leeds next month, in the biggest retail project seen outside of London since the recession. The property group said it waited until 47 per cent of the Trinity Leeds mall was let before agreeing a construction contract, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 21, 2010 BANK OF IRELAND The bank has appointed Bill Greaves to the position of head of corporate banking in the UK. Greaves previously led the bank’s technology, media and telecoms team, which he established in early 2005 upon joining the group. Prior to that, he led the media team at Barclays. In his new role, he [...]
BANK CHIEF ‘OGRE’ GETS AN IMAGE OVERHAUL July 20, 2010 FAIRFAX chief executive Stefan Allesch-Taylor is on the blower following a story in this column yesterday about the boutique bank scouting around for a new investor – a move which could potentially usurp the big man’s family trust as the firm’s largest shareholder. Not that Allesch-Taylor’s particular beef is with the story itself, mind. He’s [...]
International Power in GDF merger talks July 19, 2010 BRITISH energy firm International Power (IP) confirmed it had revived merger talks with GDF Energy yesterday, sending its share price soaring. The companies have restarted long-running talks over France’s GDF buying up new shares in IP. Previous talks collapsed in January after the firms failed to agree terms. GDF, already one of the world’s largest [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MANDARINS TO BE OFFERED EARLY REDUNDANCY PAYOUTS Thousands of senior civil servants are being offered voluntary redundancy ahead of big cuts in their severance terms, sparking fears that some of Whitehall’s most talented officials could walk before the terms are reduced. The offers are less to do with the coalition’s plans to tackle [...]
London shops boom but UK sales stutter July 18, 2010 LONDON shops enjoyed June sales 14.4 per cent higher than a year ago, according to research out today. The shopping boom far outstrips the rest of the UK, where like-for-like growth was just 1.2 per cent, and represents the strongest sales growth in the capital since October 2006. Research by KPMG and the British Retail [...]
West End falls behind rest of capital July 18, 2010 LONDON’S West End has seen an upsurge in high-end purchases, though shops in the area have bounced back at a slower rate than the rest of the capital. June sales in the West End shops rose 10 per cent on last year, compared to a 14.4 per cent rise in London and a 1.2 per [...]
SuperGroup profit triples on expansion July 15, 2010 FASHION retailer SuperGroup’s full-year pre-tax profit soared to £22.46m from £7.59m last year. Group revenue for the 52 weeks ended 2 May, was up 83.1 per cent to £139.4m from £76.14m in the comparable period. The surge has been fuelled by the company’s Superdry label which has been sported by a host of celebrities including [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 15, 2010 DFS The sofa retailer, which was recently sold by founder Lord Kirkham to private equity group Advent International for £500m, has ended its search for a new chief executive. Ian Filby has thirty years of retail experience, including a recent stint working as interim chief executive at Nectar. He was also previously retail brand development [...]
SuperGroup profit soars July 15, 2010 FASHION retailer SuperGroup’s full-year pre-tax profit soared to £22.46m from £7.59m last year. Group revenue for the 52 weeks ended May 2, 2010 was up 83.1 per cent to £139.4m from £76.14m in the comparable period. The surge has been fuelled by the company’s Superdry label which has been sported by a host of celebrities [...]