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 [...]
Value lines lift Northern Food’s sales May 27, 2009 A SURGE in demand for value lines helped Northern Foods beat market expectations for full year sales yesterday. But the group’s pre-tax profit still fell 5.4 per cent to £47.5m from £50.1m the year before due to restructuring costs. And it warned on future trading due to the rising price of ingredients and pressure from [...]
Uncertainty over dividend payments could see defensive shares back on top May 25, 2009 MARKS & Spencer was hit by shareholder anger last week after it confirmed a widely flagged decision to slash its dividend payout to shareholders by one third. It saw its shares dive to the bottom of the FTSE 100, wiping 8 per cent off the share price in just one day. The price has continued [...]
Rose hints at early retreat May 25, 2009 MARKS & SPENCER’S executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose has said publicly for the first time he hopes to stand down before July 2011, his previously announced departure date. Rose, who has faced months of speculation about his future, said: “It’s quite clear. I said I would extend my tenure at the least until 2011. What [...]