The brewing boss who says pubs have to clean up their act to survive March 21, 2010 Thirty-nine pubs close a week in the UK and the economy may be only crawling towards recovery, but the chief executive of pub company Marston’s thinks this is just the right time to build bigger and better outlets. The FTSE 250 business – which runs 2,200 pubs and five breweries – raised £140m from investors [...]
Defender of business says a hung parliament would be disastrous February 7, 2010 HE MIGHT have parted company with the CBI four years ago, but Lord Digby Jones is still one of the staunchest defenders of the private sector. When he gives me his business card at the opening of a Vodafone store in the City, it is emblazoned with a motto that sums up his philosophy: “Only [...]
Retail is a sell as customers desert the UK’s high streets January 10, 2010 THE BRITS lived up to their reputation as a nation of spenders and splashed their cash with abandon over the festive period. Major retailers swept up and some, like fashion chain Ted Baker, saw sales rise 20 per cent in the latter part of 2009. John Lewis, Next, Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury also [...]
The City lawyer who argues that banking has become even riskier November 4, 2009 T o David Morley, the phrase “it is better to travel than to arrive” must sound pretty strange, an expression invented only for those unfortunate souls who have not learnt to move at speed. For Morley, who joined top law firm Allen & Overy in 1980 and has led it as senior partner since last [...]
Pay cuts loom as prices fall to 61-year low May 19, 2009 AN ESTIMATED 80 per cent of workers face the prospect of a pay freeze or cut, after the measure of inflation used for the majority of wage settlements plunged last month. The Retail Prices Index (RPI), which is used for workers’ wage settlements and includes mortgage and rent payments, shrank to -1.2 per cent year-on-year [...]
Surge in UK jobless July 17, 2008 Expectations that the Bank of England would keep interest rates on hold were heightened yesterday as official data revealed the number of people claiming unemployment benefit had surged by the highest monthly amount for 16 years. The Office for National Statistics said unemployment rose by 15,500 last month, after an upwardly revised 14,300 increase in [...]