Strong London market helps Great Portland May 23, 2012 LONDON property group Great Portland Estates (GPE) impressed investors yesterday with an improving portfolio and a record year for leasings. Annual pre-tax profits took a battering, down 36 per cent to £155.2m, as the firm spent on development and refurbishment work. But the group’s net asset value rose 11.9 per cent in the year to [...]
Choosing your MBA: Location is a critical part of the decision May 23, 2012 WHY SHOULD the location of a business school be a factor in choosing one MBA programme over another? It’s not immediately obvious. Many potential students will select by the educational value of a course, and how specific features of that MBA programme might impact on career progression. Many others will go by a school’s position [...]
England pair best in world, says Pietersen May 22, 2012 ENGLAND batsman Kevin Pietersen has hailed team-mates Stuart Broad and James Anderson as the most devastating new-ball pairing in world cricket. Broad and Anderson took 14 scalps between them as England beat West Indies by five wickets in the first Test at Lord’s, which ended on Monday. “Our bowlers are a fantastic unit. To get [...]
Drog days are over: Blues star nears exit May 21, 2012 CHELSEA look to have lost their battle to keep Champions League hero Didier Drogba after the striker told team-mates he has decided to end his eight-year stint in west London. Ivory Coast star Drogba’s most likely destination is believed to be ambitious Shanghai Shenhua, who lured his former colleague Nicolas Anelka from Stamford Bridge during [...]
Dubai nightlife gets an injection of Mayfair fun May 20, 2012 LONDON night owls tired of seeing the same old faces – and tired of the chill – might do well to make a trip to the United Arab Emirates. Die-hard City folk can easily feel an affiliation with Dubai thanks to an influx of club, bar and restaurant openings all mimicking the best of what [...]
New Astra gives Vauxhall plant £125m lifeline May 17, 2012 THE coalition’s industrial strategy has received a major boost from General Motors’ decision to invest £125m on building a new Astra in Britain at the likely expense of Germany. Vauxhall, owned by GM, will begin assembling the next generation Astra compact at Ellesmere Port in 2015. It will create about 700 jobs at the Vauxhall [...]
Capco secures £70m financing deal ahead of Olympic summer May 15, 2012 CAPITAL & COUNTIES said yesterday it has secured a £70m credit facility from its lenders BNP Paribas and HSBC, as the property specialist continued to make good progress on its major schemes at Covent Garden and Earls Court. The five-year revolving credit facility, which has been secured against some of the company’s Covent Garden assets, [...]
Chelsea delay decision on Di Matteo future May 10, 2012 CHELSEA interim boss Roberto di Matteo remains in the running to land the job permanently, despite suggestions the Italian is resigned to missing out at the end of the season, say club chiefs. The Blues could yet make history by winning the Champions League for the first time and chief executive Ron Gourlay is adamant [...]
Derwent makes more lettings May 9, 2012 Property group Derwent has credited London’s burgeoning technology sector for its rise in lettings at the start of 2012, as it ploughed ahead with new development projects. The firm has made 23 lettings in the year to date, worth over £8m per year, and gained planning permission for half a million square feet of building [...]
Exillon gets boost as fuel output increases May 8, 2012 OIL explorer Exillon yesterday reported a 55 per cent jump in production for the three months to the end of April alongside above-average selling prices for its fuel. Production at the FTSE 250-listed firm averaged 11,448 barrels per day compared with 7,386 bpd in the equivalent period last year. In April, Exillon hit an all-time [...]