New WH Smith boss pledges to keep lid on costs October 10, 2013 WH SMITH’s new boss Stephen Clarke said yesterday he would continue the cost-cutting strategy laid out by his predecessor Kate Swann and step up growth overseas, as the group posted a rise in profits despite a decline in full-year sales. The news and stationary retailer, which also announced a further £50m share buyback, said total [...]
Foreign buyers take half of £1m London homes October 8, 2013 NEARLY half of prime central London homes sold for more than £1m in the year to June went to foreign buyers, according to research published by Knight Frank. However only 28 per cent of the buyers lived outside the UK, as opposed to foreign residents in the country. These buyers were mainly investors, looking to [...]
Low growth in emerging world as India hit hard in September October 8, 2013 INDIA recorded the sharpest contraction in activity for over four years this September, according to HSBC’s emerging markets index, released this morning. The index suggests that Indian activity declined in every month of the third quarter, seeing the worst period since the middle of 2009. Emerging markets pointed to another month of meagre expansion. The [...]
Grounding planes means grounding growth: We must act on airports now October 8, 2013 A SOLUTION to London’s airport capacity crisis is a national imperative. After years of indecision and inertia, we have got to act to support growth. Heathrow opened in March 1946, less than a year after the war, and has since grown to become the world’s third busiest airport. Yet in the time it took to [...]
World Cup bids probe launched October 8, 2013 WORLD governing body Fifa will contact all nations who lodged unsuccessful bids to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as part of an investigation into its code of ethics. American Michael Garcia will spearhead the probe, expected to last for several months, into the bidding processes, which saw Russia and Qatar named host nations. [...]
SocGen buys VTB’s Rosbank stake in Russia turnaround October 7, 2013 FRANCE’S Societe Generale is raising its stake in Russia’s Rosbank to above 90 per cent, betting it can turn around the troubled Russian banking unit even as rivals have quit a country where they could not compete. While players such as Citi and Austria’s Raiffeisen thrive, many have found post-Soviet Russia too hard to crack: [...]
VTB Bank in talks to sell stake in Rosbank to Societe Generale October 6, 2013 RUSSIA’S second-largest bank VTB has agreed to sell its stake of around 10 per cent in Societe Generale’s Russian unit Rosbank to the French bank, while SocGen will sell VTB a number of Russian assets, a source close to the deal told Reuters yesterday. State-controlled VTB, which bought into Rosbank in 2010, said in May [...]
Russian credit card firm plans London listing October 3, 2013 RUSSIAN credit card supplier TCS Group yesterday became the latest overseas company to tap London’s burgeoning initial public offering (IPO) market with plans to raise up to $750m (£464m) in a float. TCS, which owns top three Russian credit card issuer Tinkoff Credit Systems, said it will use the cash to help boost its expanding [...]
Letters to the Editor – 04/10 – Business growth, Stamp duty, Best of Twitter October 3, 2013 Business growth [Re: Cameron needs growth gazelles to bring life to his land of opportunity, yesterday] The Prime Minister’s gazelles will find it difficult to leap with elephants in the room. Indeed, our recent research looked in depth at certain features of over 250 companies – around 54 per cent with no serious financial issues and [...]
Where to Drink: A new opening from the owners of Bodo’s and a slice of Indian chic in the middle of Mayfair October 3, 2013 SEPTEMBER witnessed a number of high-end clubs and bars launching across London and the Westbury Hotel has bragging rights to one such venue. No 41 is nestled underneath the newly Michelin-awarded Brasserie Chavot and accessed through a street-side entrance. The nightclub is a plush amalgam of self-aware opulence, with a design scheme replete with grand [...]