Vampire films never get old… or do they? February 20, 2014 FILMONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVECert 15 | By Steve DinneenThree Stars ONLY Lovers Left Alive is a movie with vampires in it, but it’s not really a vampire movie. It hemorrhages introspection and indie sensibility rather than horror panache. There’s hardly any blood in it. If I were the kind of writer who used bad puns, [...]
Indecisive Europe is acting too late to save Ukraine from Kremlin discipline February 19, 2014 LIKE a slow-motion car wreck, the tragic violence that has erupted in Ukraine over the last few days – which some fear could result in bloody civil war – has been inexorably coming for some time. In November 2013, the country’s President Viktor Yanukovych abruptly broke off talks with the EU over a political and [...]
Carlsberg looks to the Far East as Europe disappoints February 19, 2014 Danish brewer Carlsberg has reported a fall in profit before tax to 7.8bn (£800m) Danish krone for the year to 31 December. The result was marginally down from last year's 8.1bn krone. The company was impacted by a decline in European and Russian markets of two per cent and eight per cent respectively. However, Carlsberg [...]
We must help the poor – but hurting the rich makes no sense February 18, 2014 MORE Ferraris are now sold in the UK than in any other European country. No fewer than 677 of the Italian supercars were delivered to the UK, out of total global sales of 7,000, more even than Germany, home of autobahns with no speed limits. Many people will be upset at this. Real wages are [...]
The week in brief February 16, 2014 Samsung launches brand marketing platform The electronics company has launched a brand marketing platform, “Launching People”, that will create a TV series where stars (including Idris Elba, Paloma Faith, Gizzi Erskine, and Rankin), will mentor undiscovered talent. Samsung hopes it will help the brand become the “most loved” in Britain. Mini seeks new creative agency [...]
Lenta sets price range for $1bn stock offering February 13, 2014 BANKERS advising on the upcoming share listing of Lenta, the Russian hypermarket, are set to announce a price range that values the group between $4.1bn (£2.4bn) and $4.9bn. The price range is on the large size and is likely to be narrowed over the next few weeks as institutional shareholders decide whether or not to [...]
Inside Track: Rothschild shows independent advisers are on a roll February 13, 2014 AT THE top of Rothschild’s impressive and relatively newly-built London headquarters, a modern building set in the 17th century St Swithin’s Lane in the heart of the City, is an auditorium which the firm’s bankers use to host what are known as kick-off meetings for the flotations they’re working on. Over the past few months, [...]
When bureaucracy goes wrong: The Environment Agency and onion futures February 12, 2014 THERE is something about onions that brings out the worst in bureaucrats. Orlando Figes’s A People’s Tragedy chronicles the early years of the Russian revolution. Under war communism, the Bolsheviks attempted to exert state control over the entire economy. A long list of vegetables was drawn up, specifying the prices at which they could be [...]
Chelsea chair Bruce Buck steps down from Skadden leadership February 10, 2014 BRUCE Buck, the Chelsea football club chairman who is also a partner at law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, is to step down as head of the firm’s London office. Former Skadden Moscow head Pranav Trivedi, who also specialises in corporate finance, will step into Buck’s shoes, and spend most of his time in [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 10 February 2014 February 10, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Quantum nets Soros $5.5bn George Soros’s Quantum Endowment fund had its second-best year in dollar terms in 2013, adding $5.5bn to the billionaire’s fortune and putting the $28.6bn fund back at the top of the table for the most successful hedge funds of all time. The $5.5bn return was the best for Quantum [...]