EE hopes TV will spur broadband sign up growth October 8, 2014 The chief executive of Britain’s biggest mobile operator is hoping TV will unlock a new growth story for EE. Yesterday, the telecoms giant unveiled a TV offering in a move that would send a warning shot across the bows of rivals BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media which have fought between themselves over who has [...]
Dixons Carphone expects to hit £80m cost savings faster October 8, 2014 High Street giant Dixons Carphone said yesterday it expected to reach its cost savings target earlier than previously forecast, following the £4bn merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse two months ago. The FTSE 100 retailer said at the time of the merger it would save around £80m in annual costs from 2016–17. Speaking to [...]
HSS tools up for future deal October 8, 2014 TOOLS company HSS Hire Group is weighing plans to list on the stock market next year after boosting sales by a third this year due a boom in corporate outsourcing. The company’s owner, Exponent Private Equity, is exploring options for the company, such as an initial public offering or a trade sale, after turnover rose [...]
Vince Cable puts pressure on companies over all-male boards October 8, 2014 Vince Cable is taking aim at some at a host of British companies that have no women on their boards. Cable is planning to write to the chairman of close to 30 FTSE 350 firms that have all male boards voicing his concern that they have failed to embrace diversity, Sky News reports. Companies that [...]
HSBC boss Alan Thomson quits and bankers mutiny over jail threat October 7, 2014 Top bankers are quitting the industry in protest at new rules which mean senior staff in failed banks could face jail unless they prove themselves innocent, with one HSBC boss leaving and another threatening to go yesterday. Their actions prompted a swathe of bankers and lawyers to warn that plans to reverse the burden of [...]
HSBC UK director Alan Thomson resigns over banking regulation threat as second exec ‘mulls exit’ October 7, 2014 One of HSBC's UK directors has resigned from his position ahead of new rules that strengthen the hand of regulators to penalised managers of failed banks. City A.M. understands Alan Thomson, a member of the audit and risk committees of HSBC Bank, has tendered his resignation and will leave the board in October. Sky News initially [...]
Pietersen told by Vaughan to forget dream of England recall October 6, 2014 FORMER England captain Michael Vaughan has dismissed Kevin Pietersen’s lingering hopes of earning an unlikely Test recall following a series of explosive allegations in his new book KP: The Autobiography. The South African-born batsman has alleged a bullying culture existed within the national team camp and blamed senior members of the England bowling unit as [...]
BSkyB gains shareholder approval for Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia acquisition October 6, 2014 BSkyB shareholders have given an overwhelming nod of approval to its £5.3bn bid to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. A 96 per cent majority of investors voted in favour of the deal which will see Sky become Europe’s largest pay TV operator. The vote included approval of transferring BSkyB's stake in National Geographic to 21st [...]
Liberal Democrat party conference 2014: The ties are off! Danny Alexander is up for election fight October 5, 2014 Perhaps Danny Alexander fell victim to a particularly saucy bacon sandwich in between his appearance on Sky News yesterday morning and his speech at the party’s conference just a short while later. Maybe it was a baby-kiss photo op gone wrong, or a sudden gust of wild Scottish wind that carried his on-message, fresh-out-of-the-box yellow [...]
Total Media’s Guy Sellers on the strengths of independent media agencies October 5, 2014 In an age of unprecedented consolidation in the media world, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the smaller, independent agencies must be struggling to compete, clinging on for dear life amid a flurry of dealmaking by the industry’s giants. Outfits like Total Media, however, call this assumption into question. Its income grew by 14.6 per [...]