New listing rules and jitters over Europe pull FTSE down December 14, 2011 WEAKNESS in risk-sensitive commodity issues and banks dragged Britain’s FTSE 100 index lower yesterday, with concerns over the Eurozone debt crisis ratcheted up as Italy’s borrowing costs expanded to a record high. Italy had to pay 6.47 per cent on five-year bonds in an auction yesterday, up from a previous euro era record high of [...]
Morrisons to create 7,000 jobs December 14, 2011 Britain’s fourth largest grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets said it will create over 7,000 new jobs in 2012, as it opens 25 new stores and develops its manufacturing and logistics operations. The firm, which created about 6,000 jobs this year, said on Wednesday that many of the new jobs created next year will be skilled positions [...]
OFT tobacco fines overturned December 12, 2011 Imperial Tobacco and several leading retailers have won a court battle to overturn record fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over allegations of unlawful pricing. A fine of £112.3m handed down to Imperial Tobacco last year was reversed, while Morrisons, Asda, Co-Op and Shell also had cases against them overturned by the [...]
Banks stocks fall as FSA calls for tighter regulation December 12, 2011 The FTSE 100 was pegged back by miners and banks in early trading as the Eurozone continued the struggle to dig itself out of the sovereign debt crisis Domestically the decision by the Government to shun a Eurozone agreement on closer fiscal ties was sinking in with cracks appearing in the coalition over the move. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 11, 2011 KPMG KPMG has appointed Paul Sawdon as UK head of its internal audit practice. Sawdon has been a partner at KPMG for the past ten years, where he has worked on a variety of audit projects, including developing the firm’s extended assurance proposition. He takes over from David Defroand, who leaves to devote himself to [...]
Travelodge bets on convenience stores to spur £130m budget hotel expansion November 27, 2011 E-TILLS ARE RINGING FOR CYBER MONDAY TRAVELODGE has joined forces with Waitrose, the supermarket chain, to build three mixed use hotel and retail sites in a £27m scheme. The budget hotel chain said yesterday that it is also looking at 25 other sites next to big supermarkets in a £130m expansion that is expected to [...]
FTSE slump continues as Germany digs in November 25, 2011 THE FTSE 100 continued to fall this morning as Germany’s refusal to agree to a common Eurozone bond to shore up the bloc’s finances further drained investor confidence. London’s blue chip index posted its ninth successive day of falls yesterday and has dropped 7.5 per cent in the period – the longest losing streak since [...]
Watered-down soup sales hurting Campbell as competition mounts November 22, 2011 CAMPBELL Soup, the world’s largest soup maker, reported weak quarterly sales yesterday as higher prices at its US soup and international businesses put off price-conscious shoppers, sending its shares down five per cent. The company, whose US soup business has struggled with more competition, said quarterly sales in that business fell four per cent, hurt [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 15, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES HGCAPITAL IN TALKS TO BUY BACK IAS HgCapital, the mid-market private equity group, is in talks to buy back the main part of Iris Software Group four years after it sold the UK’s largest private business software maker to Hellman & Friedman. The buy-out house has approached its larger US rival with a [...]
Sales are strong at Asda but high fuel costs keeping shoppers away November 15, 2011 SUPERMARKET group Asda yesterday reported a pick up in third-quarter sales growth, helped by revamped own-brand food ranges and a pledge to be cheaper than rivals. Sales at stores open more than a year rose 1.3 per cent, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, in the three months to September, Britain’s second-biggest supermarket group said [...]