A man on a mission to the Moonpig.com June 5, 2011 MOONPIG was a nickname I had at school,” says Nick Jenkins. “I needed a two syllable domain name, something comic and unique on Google.” It took him four days of checking potential names on Network Solutions to stumble upon Moonpig. Now a household name, it is also one of the UK’s fastest growing and most [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK June 5, 2011 NO EXPENSE was spared when three Russian businessmen, accompanied by one of the group’s nephew, dined at Cheneston’s in Kensington’s Milestone Hotel. So when it came to choosing the wine to accompany the three-course blow-out, the only thing to do was to choose a vintage from the year the nephew was born, which turned out [...]
Russian tax freeze set to hit Gazprom June 1, 2011 RUSSIA will not increase its mineral extraction tax for independent gas producers, finance minister Alexei Kudrin said yesterday, leaving state export monopoly Gazprom to bear the brunt of tax increases. Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Ananenkov warned that if the ministry carries through with proposed output levies, production would decline. “More gas will end up [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES UK CONSUMER RECOVERY SET TO BE SLOWEST IN 180 YEARS The UK economy is set to experience the slowest pick-up in consumer spending of any post-recession period since 1830, according to a Financial Times analysis of official forecasts. Families are expected to spend just slightly more by 2015 than they were before the [...]
London jitters thwart Moscow airport float May 31, 2011 MOSCOW’S busiest airport has become the latest group to fall victim to shaky investor confidence in London’s initial public offering (IPO) market. DME Limited, the offshore company that owns Domodedovo airport, announced the withdrawal of its planned $700m-$1bn (£424 – £607m) float in London late on Sunday night, having published its intention to float document [...]
ALL CHANGE AT LLOYD’S AS IT RINGS 25 YEARS May 26, 2011 IT MAY seem like only yesterday for many City veterans, but today marks 25 years since the first managing agents moved into the landmark Lloyd’s building on Lime Street. So happy anniversary to the insurance giant, which still shows traces of more than 300 years of Lloyd’s history, such as the famous Lutine Bell, which [...]
The Wolfpack goes mad in Bangkok May 26, 2011 Film THE HANGOVER II Cert: 15 BRUISED, bloodied, blacked-out and stood high above a sweltering Bangkok, it’s the morning after the night before. Again. Following their 2009 antics in Vegas, the dysfunctional “Wolfpack” – Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis – is back. Three manboys, their sensible mate, and one wedding in Thailand. What [...]
Shell moves in on BP’s failed Rosneft deal May 25, 2011 ROYAL Dutch Shell is moving in on Russia’s Arctic energy reserves in the wake of BP’s failure to resolve its legal issues surrounding a tie-up with Rosneft, Moscow’s national oil giant. Shell chief executive Peter Voser met with Russian deputy prime minister and energy chief Igor Sechin as well as Rosneft chief Eduard Khudainatov yesterday. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES POLL SHOWS MAJORITY OF INVESTORS USE VOTES Almost eight in 10 UK institutional investors exercise their voting rights in all the companies in which they own shares, according to a survey by the Investment Management Association. The finding, in a report setting out the extent of shareholder involvement in the early days of [...]
Yandex surges on first day May 24, 2011 Shares of Russian internet company Yandex surged more than 40 per cent in their debut yesterday, in the largest US initial public offering in the internet sector since Google. Yandex raised $1.3bn (£803m) in its IPO on Monday by selling 52.2m shares for $25 each. The offering valued the overall company at about $8bn. Morgan [...]