Belt tightening hits Restaurant November 18, 2009 RESTAURANT GROUP, the retailer behind Garfunkel’s and Frankie & Benny’s, yesterday warned of falling revenues. Sales were down three per cent year-on-year between January and October despite the opening of 17 new eateries. The company said rising unemployment, tight credit markets and high levels of household debt had made 2009 a “challenging” time to run [...]
The amateur economist who finds the truth in the freakiest places November 16, 2009 FOR someone who has spent much of the last decade successfully writing about economics, Stephen Dubner is surprisingly keen to point out that he is not an economist. Following his co-authorship of Freakonomics, one of the publishing phenomena of recent years, and a sequel called Superfreakonomics, however, surely he has picked up some knowledge. Well [...]
3i tumbles as asset value disappoints November 12, 2009 PRIVATE equity giant 3i marched back into first half profit yesterday but saw its shares drift downwards as its net asset value undershot expectations. Britain’s oldest buyout firm, which invests in companies as diverse as Interflora and Ministry of Sound, said the underlying value of its portfolio rose 2.5 per cent between April and September, [...]
The best places to splash the cash with discretion November 11, 2009 MARCUS Wareing recently told City A.M. that ever since the start of the financial crisis, the phones have been ringing off the hook of his restaurant at the Berkeley Hotel with enquiries about the private dining room. “People are spending money,” he said. “They just don’t particularly want to be seen doing it.” It seems [...]
Profits turn flaky for Weetabix but sales float higher on Bitesize launch November 11, 2009 CEREAL maker Weetabix saw its post-tax profits slide last year as it took a hit from restructuring costs and redundancy payments. The company, which also owns the Alpen muesli and Ready Brek porridge brands, reported total profits of £75.7m for 2008, down £2.3m year-on-year. The cost of overhauling its operations in Kettering and Corby dragged [...]
D&D to open London hotel November 11, 2009 D&D London, the company formerly known as Conran Restaurants, is marking its return to the hotel business with a new £50m boutique hotel in Moorgate. D&D, which is still 51 per cent owned by Sir Terence Conran, will work with property developer Frogmore to create a luxury 80-room hotel, which it hopes will receive planning [...]
Koffman’s pop-up proves that he’s still the king of London fine dining November 9, 2009 NOSTALGIA is a wonderful thing. When it was announced that Pierre Koffman would come out of retirement to run a restaurant on the roof of Selfridges for one week only, the phones rang off the hook with former customers who remembered his Chelsea restaurant Tante Claire, which closed several years ago. But the crowd wasn’t [...]
Wagamama halts expansion November 8, 2009 Wagamama, the canteen-style noodle bar chain, has said that it has temporarily halted its expansion plans, but is set to resume openings in the spring after a robust financial performance. The Japanese restaurant chain, which has 65 restaurants, said operating profits jumped 75 per cent to £7.1m for the year to April 2009 on sales [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 4, 2009 THE FINANCIAL TIMES OPEL U-TURN LEAVES GERMANY ANGRYGermany and Russia reacted furiously to General Motors’ surprise decision to keep Opel rather than sell it, throwing up fresh uncertainty about the future direction of one of Europe’s biggest carmakers. The news that GM’s board had abandoned the sale of Opel/Vauxhall to Canada’s Magna and Russia’s Sberbank [...]
Sun, sea and Arabian Delights November 1, 2009 THERE are many parts of the world about which I am pessimistic but Dubai, despite its recent economic woes, is not one of them. Nobody else in the Middle East has pulled off what Dubai has achieved: a peaceful, capitalist, multi-ethnic state based on commerce, property, finance, entertainment and tourism. While it has been engulfed [...]