Firms want new code of practice June 24, 2009 A clutch of the UK’s largest firms have called for the code of best practice covering boardrooms to be loosened, to allow them to opt out of guidelines. Companies including British Airways, Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Cable & Wireless want a change to the code’s ethos of “comply or explain” because they believe investors [...]
Risk Metrics asks M&S to split roles June 23, 2009 INFLUENTIAL shareholder advisory body Risk Metrics has joined calls for Marks & Spencer to split the executive chairman role held by Sir Stuart Rose in two and appoint an independent chairman. It added its voice to that of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), which has filed a resolution for the 8 July annual [...]
ALL HAIL THE CITY’S HUNKIEST GENTS June 22, 2009 1. JOSHUA RAYMOND CITY INDEXIt was a tough job, picking just one of the City’s most strapping gentlemen to grace the top spot, but someone had to do it – and City A.M.’s discerning judging panel were unanimous in their vote for the lovely Joshua Raymond, market strategist at spreadbetter City Index. Joshua started breaking [...]
How the Baker Street brigade are taking on the Big Four accountants June 22, 2009 YOU get the impression when you meet him that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward, wants a lot of things – and one of the first is a larger slice of the UK accounting pie. Michaels, at 42 the youngest person to lead the UK’s sixth-largest professional services business, was elected to [...]
Rose waives 1.1m share award payout June 22, 2009 SIR Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, yesterday waived his entitlement to more than £1m in shares in a bid to appease disgruntled shareholders. Under the incentive share plan, M&S’s remuneration committee had awarded Rose 1,184,900 shares. But after a shareholder backlash led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), Rose said he [...]
M&S to start search in Autumn June 21, 2009 High street bellwether Marks&Spencer will start the hunt for a new chief executive in September, with Sir Stuart Rose set to make an early departure next year. The City is convinced M&S will appoint an external candidate, with Justin King of J Sainsbury, Andy Bond of Asda and Kate Swann of WH Smith all considered [...]
SALTY OLD SEADOG OF PROPERTY TAKES TO HIGH SEAS ONCE AGAIN June 21, 2009 PROPERTY guru Mike Slade’s firm Helical Bar might have crashed further into the red over the past year as its annual losses tripled, but it hasn’t stopped the salty old seadog getting up to his usual tricks. Outside of the property world, the 61-year-old is best known for his passion for sailing, having racked up [...]
CITY TRADER OFFERS GAMBLERS A FLUTTER ON A LOTTERY OF HIS LIFE June 10, 2009 REMEMBER the man who, last year, decided to mend his broken heart after a divorce by selling his entire life on eBay, house, car, job and all? Well, one enterprising City boy has decided to go one better – he’s started a competition for entrants to “win a new life”, and stands to make millions [...]
Rose bags 28 per cent hike in pay packet June 4, 2009 STUART Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, collected a share windfall of £288,000 last year, boosting his total income by 28 per cent. Rose collected £1.76m for the year ending March 2009, up from £1.38m a year earlier. Although Rose’s basic salary was frozen at £1.13m and he received no bonus for the second [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 4, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES AQUASCUTUM IN BUY-OUT TALKSAquascutum, the classic British clothing brand, could be sold to the Hong Kong clothier that distributes the label in China and south-east Asia after an offer from the brand’s management to buy the business was rejected at the eleventh hour last week. Japan’s Renown, which bought the British label in [...]