Greene King buys Cloverleaf January 31, 2011 GREENE King has bought the pub restaurant group Cloverleaf for £56m. Chief executive Rooney Anand (pictured) said the acquisition, combined with a planned investment of around £25m to open ten new Cloverleaf premises within two years, would utilise the remaining balance of its rights issue proceeds. The deal has added another 12 restaurants to Greene [...]
Greene King buys Cloverleaf January 31, 2011 Greene King has bought carvery and pub chain Cloverleaf Restaurants for £56m. Cloverleaf has 12 sites in the Midlands and the north of England with plans for 10 more. Meanwhile Suffolk-based Greene King said sales from outlets open more than a year in its largest unit, Retail, rose 3.9 per cent in the 38 weeks [...]
Less than half of City jobs are in finance January 30, 2011 FINANCIAL companies in the City and Canary Wharf stimulate a vast and varied range of jobs outside the sector, according to official figures seen by City A.M. Less than half (44 per cent) the jobs in London’s main financial districts were in finance and insurance in 2009, with 232,682 other jobs existing in support services [...]
The Cloud wi-fi network is target for Sky January 25, 2011 SKY is on the brink of snapping up wi-fi hotspot provider The Cloud in a deal analysts say could be worth around £100m. Sky is desperate to compete with rival BT, which offers its subscribers free access to its Openzone wireless network covering most of the country. The Cloud has around 22,000 hotspots across the [...]
The ex-butcher who knows how to cut it fine January 24, 2011 HAVING started his career in a butcher’s shop in Wolverhampton, Ranjit Singh Boparan has a lifetime of experience in food firms – and knows how to cut things fine. Boparan’s £342m bid for Northern came two hours after the Takeover Panel’s original deadline of 5pm on Friday, after he negotiated a last-minute extension with the [...]
SKY NEWS BITES THE HAND THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE FEEDING IT January 24, 2011 SOME puzzling editorial choices have been afoot at Sky News this week. On Sunday, Gordon Brown’s disclosure that he asked the police to look into whether his phone was hacked by the News of the World topped its agenda all day. And yesterday the attack of foot-in-mouth disease that afflicted Sky Sports’ Andy Gray and [...]
Mitchells & Butlers chairman John Lovering to resign January 23, 2011 JOHN Lovering is set to step down as chairman of the pubs group Mitchells & Butlers this week, a year after taking over following an investor-led board battle. Lovering, the former chairman of retailer Debenhams, has told the board he wants to leave as soon as a successor is found, because he feels he has [...]
Limassol Marina is a slice of nautical heaven January 20, 2011 EVER wanted to take your superyacht through Cyprus en route to Africa or the Middle East but been discouraged because there was nowhere to berth it? Soon that will no longer be a problem, thanks to the completion of the new £350m Limassol Marina, a luxury collection of waterside villas, residences and moorings that can [...]
FINEST FEAST IS BEST WAY TO BLOW BONUS January 18, 2011 A ONCE in a lifetime event raising money for three war veterans’ charities held a glamorous promotional evening last night, with some of the best chefs in the country promising to lay on one of the finest feasts the City has ever seen. The evening, dubbed Square Mile Salute, will be held at the legendary [...]
Boparan races to prepare an offer for Northern before its takeover deadline January 17, 2011 CONVENIENCE foods tycoon Ranjit Boparan is gearing up to make an offer for Northern Foods ahead of his Takeover Panel deadline of Friday, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. Boparan asked bankers at Rothschild to examine Northern’s books last month, and is racing to complete due diligence and make an announcement this week [...]