Sugar drinks levy: More interference won’t end obesity February 18, 2013 AMONG the ten point plan published yesterday by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in its “prescription for the nation’s medical crisis”, the headline-grabber was a tax on sugary drinks. An additional 20 per cent charge “would be an experimental measure, looking at price elasticity, substitution effects, and to what extent it impacts upon consumption [...]
Cameron demands India opens up economy to City February 18, 2013 DAVID Cameron yesterday called on India to open up its economy to British banks and insurers, in return for relaxing UK visa rules for executives from the subcontinent. But the Prime Minister faced difficulty as he waded into the debate over two troubled defence contracts and tried to convince India to hand major infrastructure contracts [...]
Cameron blows UK’s trade horn on India visit February 17, 2013 LONDON’S transport expertise and Tesco’s expansion plans will be high on the agenda during Prime Minister David Cameron’s trade mission to India this week. Cameron will arrive in Mumbai today with a delegation of ministers and business bosses including Standard Chartered’s Peter Sands to speak with trade partners in India. Transport for London has sent [...]
Bottom Line: Tesco hopes to charm shoppers February 17, 2013 When Starbucks opened its first stores in Mumbai last October, queues around the Taj Mahal hotel stretched almost to the Gateway of India – the imposing arch on the harbour under which Boris Johnson held a bike-riding photo call a few weeks later. America’s frothy coffee seemed, at the time, to go down much better [...]
Buffett Dines on Heinz for $28bn February 14, 2013 US BILLIONAIRE investor Warren Buffet and 3G Capital have swooped in to buy Heinz in a $28bn (£18bn) deal that marks one of the food industry’s largest ever acquisitions. Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway and the Brazilian-backed private equity firm will pay $72.50 per share for the baked beans and ketchup maker, a 20 per [...]
Reflections on Tulchan’s demise at Marks & Spencer February 14, 2013 FOUR weeks ago I asked Andrew Grant of Tulchan a simple question. Had his firm been fired from the retailer Marks & Spencer as its external financial public relations adviser, following the leaking of its annual results which forced their rushed and premature publication? Grant, rightly known for being courteous, well-informed and straightforward, responded that [...]
BT executive Liv Garfield joins Tesco board February 13, 2013 OLIVIA Garfield, chief executive of BT’s Openreach, is to join the board of Tesco as a non-executive director, the supermarket giant announced yesterday. Garfield has been with BT since 2002 and head of its superfast broadband division since 2011. Tesco said she will bring “valuable experience of new and emerging technologies” when she joins the [...]
Tesco must rein in the runaway horse lasagne scandal February 12, 2013 THREE weeks ago I wrote in this column that Tesco had suffered an immediate image impact after the revelations over horsemeat in burgers – but that the supermarket giant was already starting to recover and the story could prove to be a storm in a teacup. Our measurement of brand perception – called the Index [...]
The future looks cloudy for this Sauvignon Blanc February 12, 2013 bottle.opener@cityam.com Once the wine of choice, Cloudy Bay now has some real competition Whatever HAPPENED to Cloudy Bay? A few years ago the release of the new Cloudy Bay Sauvignon vintage was greeted with excitement amongst wine lovers. After all, this was a wine to celebrate – a taut yet ripe Sauvignon Blanc with real [...]
Horsemeat scandal spreads to Tesco Value spaghetti bolognese February 11, 2013 TESCO was last night forced to admit that some of its Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese contained 60 per cent horse, as the scandal over the mislabelling of meat continued to spread. Environment secretary Owen Paterson told the House of Commons that he had ordered all meat producers and retailers to commence regular testing of all [...]