Whitbread’s profit boosted by discounts October 19, 2010 WHITBREAD profit jumped by 28 per cent to £151m in the six months to September, as its Premier Inn and Costa Coffee businesses boomed. Revenue rose 14.5 per cent to £805m as the company expanded its operations across the UK. Whitbread raised its interim dividend by 17 per cent to 11.25p to reflect the results. [...]
Blacks fields potential buyers October 19, 2010 CAMPING and hiking retailer Blacks Leisure yesterday confirmed it has received several approaches to take over all or parts of its business. Shares in the company rose 25 per cent to 42.50p following the news that Blacks has taken on financial advisers McQueen to help field potential offers. The share price gives the company a [...]
Spanish favourite hits mark again October 18, 2010 Camino 28 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, E14 8RR. www.camino.uk.com/canarywharf Tel: 020 7239 9077 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £35 IT must be tricky designing a Spanish restaurant. One route is to go rustic, with wine barrels, crates, bull-fighting memorabilia and castanets everywhere, and instructions to staff to wipe their hands on their [...]
The past lives on as Agatha Christie’s top hotel reopens October 17, 2010 ONCE you’ve been to Istanbul, Paris, Berlin and even London seem somehow paltry, a bit small-scale and even a touch banal. The enormity and seductiveness of the Bosphorous, especially at sunset, and the mesmeric mixture of ancient history, Ottoman splendour and Islamic architecture beguile every traveller. Its appeal was just as strong for the most [...]
HOTEL REVIEW October 17, 2010 The Oberoi – Mumbai THE GLEAMING five-star Oberoi hotel has spent a lot of time and money trying to forget the past. The Mumbai landmark, a playground for the megacity’s elite as well as foreign VIPs like former US President Bill Clinton, was reopened in April following an 18-month, $40m renovation after being at the [...]
Booker buys Courivaud to boost its hotel trade October 14, 2010 CASH and carry giant Booker yesterday bought a rival which supplies Michelin-starred restaurants and leading hotel chains. It paid £14.5m for Ritter-Courivaud, which counts chef Rick Stein among its customers. Booker wants to expand the range of its catering offering through Ritter, which will remain under the management of Ian Le Vesconte. Chief executive Charles [...]
FOCUS ON: BRENTWOOD, ESSEX October 14, 2010 CREST BASE Price: From £183,000 This new development in the heart of Brentwood has both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments for sale. The living area is open-plan and each flat also has a bathroom and a kitchen. Depending on the stage of construction, you can personalise various aspects of the internal finish. For commuters it is [...]
Classic is best for Caribbean satisfaction October 14, 2010 CARIBBEAN hotspots come and go but Barbados is a sunny stalwart – a developed, cultured playground for the rich and famous (Simon Cowell, Cliff Richard and Andrew Flintoff all have properties here), as well as for more humble folk. Yet despite its stability as a British favourite for homes and holidays in the sun (80 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES NIGERIA APPROVES $2.5BN BID FOR NITEL Nigeria has approved a controversial $2.5bn offer for the country’s main fixed-line telecoms group, but has demanded that the winning consortium come up with a $750m downpayment to secure the sale. The approval follows years of ill-fated efforts to sell off Nitel, which has withered since liberalisation [...]
Fine dining at the Royal Exchange October 11, 2010 Sauterelle Royal Exchange, Bank, EC3V 3LR www.danddlondon.com 020 7618 2483 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £42 DESPITE the grandness of its architecture, its lofty dimensions, the prestige of its retail outlets and, above all, its illustrious place at the heart of the City’s history and culture, as a place to socialise or [...]