Cavendish fancies double glory October 18, 2011 CYCLING: British world road champion Mark Cavendish is confident the 2012 Tour de France route will aid his bid for double glory next summer. Cavendish, who won the Tour’s green jersey this year, is also aiming for gold in the road race at the London 2012 Olympics. The 2012 Tour route, with fewer gruelling mountain [...]
Mattel close to deal for Thomas the Tank Engine October 17, 2011 US TOYMAKER Mattel could buy Hit Entertainment, the British owner of Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder as soon as this week, paying just over £500m for the media group. Hit has been owned by private equity firm Apax Partners since 2005, but US sources close to the deal have said a sale could [...]
Back super-fit Welsh to kick French into touch October 13, 2011 WALES vs FRANCE TOMORROW – 9.00AM ITV1 BEFORE the Rugby World Cup got underway, not many would have predicted Wales would still be around at the semi-final stage. However, having seen their thrilling performances and attack-minded approach, fewer still would say they do not deserve to be in the last four. Wales’ New Zealand-born coach [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 12, 2011 KESA ELECTRICALS Nomura rates the Comet-owner as “neutral” with a target price of 120p, saying the ongoing disposal of the Comet unit will remove uncertainty from the group and offer valuation upside. The broker sees the key benefits of disposal as the freeing up of around €70-80m of working capital, the removal of over €20m [...]
Cavendish Quick Step deal KO October 10, 2011 CYCLING: World champion Mark Cavendish has moved a step closer to joining Team Sky after Bessel Kok, part owner of the Quick Step team, denied there was a deal in place for the Brit to join them next season. “Cavendish will not ride for us,” said Kok. “There have been discussions about his future, but [...]
Weale grants backing to QE October 9, 2011 SENIOR official Martin Weale launched a valiant defence of the Bank of England’s latest dose of quantitative easing yesterday, arguing that the move would not push up inflation without helping growth. Yet the Bank’s former leading hawk, Andrew Sentance, attacked the move dubbed QE2, and said the institution’s credibility was at risk. “One of the [...]
3 OTHER COCKTAILS YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DRINK October 9, 2011 PIMM’S CUP HBO’s lavish series Boardwalk Empire has returned to our screens again on Sky Atlantic. Set in the era of America’s Prohibition, the thrust of the story focuses on bootlegging, politics, women’s lib and, of course, copious drinking. Pimm’s may have been scarce in the 1920s, but you can see the characters arm themselves [...]
BANKING’S TOP TEAMS SEEK NEW PASTURES October 6, 2011 THE EXODUS of senior banking talent continues – and with it, some interesting tales emerge. Take Merrill Lynch’s broking star Simon Fraser, who has informed his clients Man, Meggitt and Capital One Shopping Centres he is leaving them at the end of the year for pastures new. Quite literally, in this case, as Fraser owns [...]
Banks hired as first stage in esure’s London listing October 5, 2011 THE INSURANCE tycoon Peter Wood has lined up bankers to prepare a bumper listing of esure, reports last night said. Wood, who also founded the car insurer Direct Line, is said to have hired Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to help ready the company for a stock market flotation that is being earmarked for next [...]
Pub landlady hits winner in football case October 4, 2011 A PUB landlady from Portsmouth yesterday won her legal bid to screen cheap foreign coverage of football matches, in a giant-killing feat to rival Wimbledon’s 1988 FA Cup final win over Liverpool. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Karen Murphy should be allowed to use a Greek decoder to screen football matches. Murphy [...]