John Lewis experiences week of record sales as Christmas looms November 29, 2009 SALES are soaring at John Lewis, according to sales figures released by the department store this weekend. Figures released for the week ending 28 November show increases in electrical and home technology sales. Sales for the week reached a total of £91.79m reached, 22 per cent more than the same time last year. Televisions, coffee [...]
Think inside the Square: why the City is a top spot to buy a home November 26, 2009 IF YOU’RE looking for the ultimate Tube-busting pied a terre, the Square Mile can’t be bettered for history, beauty and – of course – convenience. Other financial centres are not exactly places you’d want to live: tightly packed with skyscrapers and fumes, they have a sterile, uninhabitable feel (just think of mid-town New York or [...]
An East End gastropub on the up November 23, 2009 The Princess of Shoreditch76 Paul Street EC2A 4NE,Tel: 020 7729 9270Cost per person without wine: £34 THE NEWLY revamped Princess of Shoreditch describes itself as a “gastropub and restaurant”, which might be seen as having your cake and eating it, but the owners have grand ideas. In the bar downstairs you can get souped-up pub [...]
BLUE-BLOODED CAZENOVE AND THE MYSTERY OF A TRUE ANCIENT RELIC November 19, 2009 BLUE-blooded City stockbroker Cazenove might have officially agreed to surrender the rest of itself to US investment bank JP Morgan, but something tells The Capitalist the die-hards won’t be ready to forget the firm’s noble heritage in a hurry. Lunch yesterday was with a City chum who remembers Caz’s days at its old headquarters in [...]
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 [...]