2011 is the year that London becomes the world’s best place to stay February 20, 2011 JUST when it seemed as though London couldn’t fit another slice of luxury into its five star-crammed hotel scene, along comes… well, everything. This has been a huge year for the capital. The completion of the spectacular £200m refurb of the Savoy sparked the buzz of excitement. Since then, Park Lane has seen the rebirth [...]
Morgan Stanley to get Northern Rock UKFI deal February 17, 2011 UK FINANCIAL Investments, the government body in charge of managing public stakes in bailed-out institutions, is soon to appoint Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale of the Northern Rock “good bank” later this year. The sale will follow the auction of 318 RBS branches sold to Santander UK last summer for £1.65bn and is likely to attract [...]
IT’S A NEW CHANNEL, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT February 17, 2011 WITH viewers of Virgin Media unable to watch Sky’s new flagship channel Sky Atlantic because of a failure of the two groups to agree on price, chief executive Neil Berkett and his team were keen to downplay its attractions yesterday. Berkett described the channel as “completely unproven” while a colleague somewhat contemptuously chipped in to [...]
Virgin looks to businesses for growth February 17, 2011 CABLE-to-entertainment group Virgin Media yesterday reported quarterly revenue figures of £1bn, up from £941.3m a year ago, predicting strong growth from its business services division in the year ahead. Virgin chief executive Neil Berkett said the order book for business data services was up 40 per cent from a year ago and he said that [...]
United Biscuits picks boss February 15, 2011 FOOD manufacturer United Biscuits is set to name Benoit Testard (above) as its new chief executive as part of a management reshuffle, and could make an announcement as early as today. The company behind brands such as Hula Hoops, Jaffa Cakes and Penguin will promote Testard from his current role as managing director of UK [...]
Redknapp ushers in a new era February 14, 2011 AC MILAN vs TOTTENHAM Spurs boss senses an opportunity for his side to join European elite on regular basis TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp believes his side stand on the brink of returning to the big time on a full-time basis ahead of their second San Siro showdown in four months. After their epic 4-3 defeat [...]
Azzurri able to surpass low expectations at HQ February 10, 2011 ENGLAND ITALY Tomorrow – 2.30pm BBC1 ENGLAND got off to a winning start at the Millennium Stadium last week, their first victory in Cardiff since 2003. Carrying the confidence from Friday’s thriller, Martin Johnson’s side returns to Twickenham where they welcome Italy for the first of three consecutive Tests at HQ. After coming within three [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TPG LOSES ANOTHER SENIOR ASIA EXECUTIVE Mary Ma, a Chinese executive at TPG Capital, is leaving to start a fund, joining other mainland executives from western buy-out firms who will start out on their own. Ma, former chief financial officer of Lenovo, joined TPG’s Asia team as managing director and a partner in [...]
Keeping it in the family February 9, 2011 RUPERT Murdoch likes to keep things in the family. His son James is head of European operations at News Corp and chairman of BSkyB – the firm 39 per cent owned by News Corp and the target of a controversial takeover plan. Now Elisabeth is about to be welcomed back into the fold after a [...]
Keys and Gray given chance to relaunch careers after sexism row by talkSPORT February 8, 2011 FORMER Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray, who left the broadcaster last month amid a sexism storm, are to be reunited at talkSPORT. The duo, set to make their comeback on 14 February, left Sky last month after off air comments made about assistant referee Sian Massey made their way into the public [...]