Infrastructure firms snap up £2.8bn of National Grid deals December 19, 2012 INFRASTRUCTURE and construction groups Balfour Beatty, Morrison Utility Services and Skanska yesterday netted themselves a £2.8bn payout from National Grid, after winning eight-year contracts with the gas and electricity firm. Balfour Beatty has won two contracts worth £1.2bn, for eight years each, to upgrade the gas distribution network in the North West and the West [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs December 16, 2012 Ashcourt Rowan Emily Morris has been appointed group head of marketing at the wealth management company. She has held a number of senior marketing roles in similar firms, and was marketing director at Rathbone Brothers for six years. Morris has additionally worked for Barclays Wealth. Peverel Group The property services group has appointed Nigel Howell [...]
Best of the Brokers December 16, 2012 ANGLO AMERICAN UBS has cut the miner from “buy” to “neutral”, and reduced its target price from 2150p to 1860p, with “heightened South Africa risk” one of the causes for a downgrade. WM MORRISON Supermarket Morrisons was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to “hold”, with a target price cut to 258p from 320p, causing the firm [...]
Allardyce praise for West Ham’s backs to the wall defending December 16, 2012 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 vs WEST HAM UNITED 0 WEST HAM manager Sam Allardyce hailed his team’s resolute defending as yesterday’s goalless draw at the Hawthorns earned the Hammers their first clean sheet in six games. Allardyce’s men had gone a goal behind in each of their previous five Premier League games, yet managed to [...]
Trevor to take the Strain as Morrisons FD December 13, 2012 MORRISONS, the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, has chosen Trevor Strain to replace Richard Pennycook as its new group finance director, it said yesterday. Strain will be officially appointed to the main board in June 2013, but will take on Pennycook’s responsibilities next spring after a handover. Strain joined Morrisons in 2009 as commercial and operations [...]
Sainsbury’s has top quarter for market share December 4, 2012 SAINSBURY’S has picked up market share in the last quarter, to make it the biggest winner among the overall grocery market, data revealed yesterday. According to figures from market researcher Kantar Worldpanel the supermarket’s sales rose 4.7 per cent and its share rose 0.2 points to 16.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to 25 [...]
The company tax debate must focus on realistic reform December 3, 2012 THE Public Account Committee’s (PAC) ongoing criticism of large multinationals for their corporation tax payments is an ill-considered departure from a more sensible debate. Multinational companies, like Starbucks and Google, are by definition different to domestic businesses (like John Lewis or Morrisons). This is especially true of internet retailers like Amazon. Under the current law, [...]
New bidder circles Stansted Airport November 25, 2012 THE sale of Stansted Airport is believed to have attracted fresh attention from Malaysia. Stansted’s owner BAA, which recently renamed itself Heathrow, is being forced to sell the airport by competition authorities, after losing its final appeal in August. Suitors so far include Manchester Airports Group, New Zealand-based investment manager Morrison & Co, Australia’s Macquarie [...]
Should Sunday trading hours be extended in supermarkets for the Christmas period? November 22, 2012 YES Dalton Philips The seven trading days before Christmas day are the busiest days of the year for grocery shopping. This period puts a huge strain on staff across our business, but particularly those in stores, logistics, and in manufacturing. Our analysis shows that, in the seven days prior to our early closing on Christmas [...]
Morrisons wants new trading laws November 21, 2012 Morrisons, Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket chain, yesterday joined Asda in lobbying government for Sunday trading laws to be relaxed on 23 December this year, arguing that the second day before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping day of the year. With the 23rd falling on a Sunday retailers are restricted by law to opening for a [...]