Hedge funds short M&S shares amid retail gloom January 3, 2012 MARKS & Spencer has become the latest high street retailer to be targeted by hedge funds betting that its share price will fall, new figures from Data Explorers show. M&S has seen demand to borrow its shares – a sign that hedge funds are taking short positions on it – rise from 3.9 per cent [...]
Ten of the top givers in the City December 21, 2011 AS we now know from the tremendous response to this newspaper’s first ever Christmas charity appeal, the City is full of givers. Despite the tougher times many of our readers have experienced, as a group this year they dug in to support a charity that helps people help themselves. This page is a tribute to [...]
Delivery pioneer lacks capacity to grow December 19, 2011 EIGHTEEN months post float, and those distinctive delivery vans just aren’t looking so special anymore. Yesterday’s profit warning from chief executive Tim Steiner may have been expected at some point, but analysts clearly thought the company had some breathing room – now it’s going to be more under scrutiny than ever. And it’s not as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 14, 2011 Bargate Murray The City law firm has appointed Jonathan Lea as a senior associate in the corporate department. He will focus on developing relationships with the technology and digital media companies establishing themselves around the Silicon Roundabout area, as well as traditional corporate advisory work. Lea trained at Clyde & Co and has spent his [...]
Michael Spencer raises a glass to wine investment December 6, 2011 ICAP chief executive Michael Spencer took his self-confessed “irrational passion” for wine way beyond the odd bottle of his much-loved Petrus yesterday, becoming a shareholder in and chairman of fine wine merchant the Bordeaux Index. Spencer has made a seven-figure investment in the online trading exchange, which was set up 15 years ago by former [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 27, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES PLEA TO BRUSSELS OVER AUDIT SHAKE-UP The heads of several midsized audit networks have issued a last-ditch appeal to the European Commssion not to dilute sweeping proposals aimed at reducing the dominance of the four biggest accountants and improving audit quality. In a joint interview with the Financial Times, the chief executives called [...]
Lloyds private equity bid for UK manufacturer in trouble November 24, 2011 THE PRIVATE equity arm of taxpayer-owned Lloyds bank has run into trouble in its bid for a family-owned British manufacturer in a deal worth about £70m, City A.M. can reveal. The family that owns Benson Group, which produces packaging for well-known brands sold in Asda, Tesco and Boots, has been trying to sell out of [...]
M&S France launch sees Bostock quizzed November 24, 2011 MARKS & Spencer took its wares back to France after a decade’s absence from its soil yesterday, claiming that Parisians were yearning for its gourmet chutney and sensible knickers. The return to France is part of a new international strategy aimed at a handful of countries. Goods will be priced around 10 per cent higher [...]
Green to cut hundreds of shops as wary consumers stay home November 24, 2011 ARCADIA Group, the retailer owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green, yesterday said it planned to close up to 260 stores over the next three years after announcing a big fall in profits. The group, which owns fashion retail stores including Topshop, Miss Selfridge, and department store BHS, said it would not renew half of its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 23, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BOSTOCK IN TALKS TO QUIT M&S FOR ASOS Kate Bostock, the head of Marks and Spencer’s clothing and homewares business, is in advanced talks to take up a senior role at Asos. People familiar with the situation said Bostock was talking to the online fashion retailer about becoming its managing director. Losing Bostock, [...]