Sales jump at M&B as deals cheer punters September 24, 2009 Pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers yesterday said that it expected its full year earnings to beat current forecasts, after a return to bargain dining and cheap boozing boosted sales. The owner of All Bar One and O’Neill’s pubs chains reported a like-for-like sales growth of 2.6 per cent in the 10 weeks to [...]
HORSES FOR COURSES FOR CITY RACING SET September 22, 2009 IT SEEMS barely a moment since the end of the horseracing season, but the City is already gearing up for the bevy of racehorse auction sales coming up over the next few weeks, starting with the Goffs Orby Sale in Ireland next week. Racing buffs might recall that sellers at the spring sales teamed up [...]
Social networking turns profitable September 21, 2009 FACEBOOK, now with 300m users, announced last week that it has broken even. Its revenues cover operating costs. In internet language, one’s “burnrate” is how much money you are losing monthly until you do just that – break even. What is the business model of Facebook? Well, there is traditional and self-service advertising, virtual property [...]
Land Secs sells stake in Bullring September 21, 2009 Land Securities yesterday confirmed it has sold its 33 per cent stake in the Bullring shopping mall in Birmingham, to Australia’s Future Fund for £210m in one of the biggest UK property deals of the year. The deal comes three weeks after mounting speculation that the property company was in advanced talks to sell its [...]
OTHER TOP OYSTER RESTAURANTS September 21, 2009 WRIGHT BROSBorough Market can be a bit variable, but this venerable (well, seven-year-old) oyster bar is one that you can guarantee to deliver, especially when there’s an R in the month. It’s a good bet if you like a bit of difference with your oysters, too: try the plate of three with wasabi. 11 Stoney [...]
RIVERS OF BUBBLY AND HALF A COW: CITY BOYS TAKE MACHO CHALLENGE September 20, 2009 EMERGING pleasantly sated from an overdose of fine wining and dining this past weekend, The Capitalist was intrigued to see two City institutions taking a stand on how to deal with the effect of the recession on the Square Mile lunch market. A little bird at Gaucho – catering for the red-blooded males and less-than-faint-hearted [...]
A QUEST FOR FINE WINES September 16, 2009 JEFF GALVINWe follow the Galvin brothers as they count down to the opening of their new City restaurant SOME parts of opening a restaurant are arduous, but others are pure fun. One of the most important things about our new restaurant La Chapelle will be the wine. Our quest for the best wine we can [...]
WEALTHY OUT TO PLAY FOR SPEAR’S AWARDS September 14, 2009 LAST year, the Spear’s Wealth Management Awards were overshadowed somewhat by frantic whispers among the moneyed guests, who watched via BlackBerry as Congress voted against a $700bn bailout of the US banking industry and their Wall Street stock portfolios plummeted. So it was with some trepidation that those guests entered Christie’s auction house in St [...]
The Galvins’ new City restaurant will be the ultimate family affair September 9, 2009 IT’S not about the money,” says Chris Galvin, as he sips a cappuccino outside the site of his new restaurant next to the glass buildings that stand around the revamped Spitalfields market, with the Gherkin poking its head over the buildings in the distance. His brother and his wife nod. It’s an unusual thing to [...]
Prezzo posts profits falls as yield on cash tumbles September 9, 2009 PIZZA restaurant chain Prezzo posted a marginal fall in first-half pre-tax profits yesterday, mainly due to a sharply reduced yield on cash assets, but said it was currently trading in line with expectations. The company said it completed the first restaurant opening of the year and confirmed there were several more in the pipeline. For [...]