Halfords says finance director to take over the reins at Dunelm September 16, 2010 HALFORDS group finance director Nick Wharton is to leave the cycle and motoring retailer to become chief executive of budget home furnishing chain Dunelm Group. Wharton will leave the company on 30 November but before his departure he will present Halfords’ interim results and oversee the renewal of its banking facilities. Chief executive of Halfords, [...]
Japan moves to weaken yen September 15, 2010 Japan sold the yen in the market on Wednesday for the first time in six years, trying to stop the currency’s relentless climb from hurting exporters and threatening a fragile economic recovery. Fresh after a victory in party leadership contest, Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan appeared to be stepping up efforts to wrench the country [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 2, 2010 Signia Wealth The wealth manager has hired Mark Elliott as managing director. Elliott is joining the family-run firm from Barclays Wealth, where he established the financial institutions group and professional practices business in 2007. Before this he worked for private bank Coutts as group head for the executive team and as group head for the [...]
Admiral looks at Linea deal as profits rise August 25, 2010 ADMIRAL GROUP could bid for Spanish insurer Linea Directa and is eyeing an expansion into the household market after growing its interim profit by more than a fifth to £127m. Admiral, which specialises in car insurance, said an offer for Linea Directa was a possibility at the right valuation. The Spanish business could be worth [...]
The doctor’s ticket to success August 19, 2010 FOR a business venture to get off the ground, it needs to fill a gap in the market. Robin Wells’ latest venture mytrainticket.co.uk has found more of a gulf than a gap. The serial entrepreneur/angel investor came across the business opportunity – a rail version of air travel ticket booking sites – 18 months ago. [...]
Wall Street fumes over GM fee cut August 16, 2010 WALL STREET has been left fuming after an exceptionally cheap pitch from Goldman Sachs led the US Treasury to slash fees for all banking advisers on its impending $20bn (£13bn) flotation of General Motors. Goldman, which was mired in allegations of securities fraud when it applied for a role in the GM initial public offering [...]
THE CITY’S GOT TALENT: OUR TOP TEN LOVELIEST LADIES August 12, 2010 1 GEORGIA RAIMES WORLD FIRST Last year’s winner, the gorgeous Sarah Davison of RBS Sempra, was always going to be a tough act to follow, but the City has found an eminently worthy successor in the form of brunette bombshell Georgia Raimes. The lovely Georgia is a forex dealer on the private client desk at [...]
China’s power is truly extraordinary August 4, 2010 REMEMBER the days when manufacturing was concentrated in the G7, while emerging economies supplied raw materials and components to feed rich nations’ demand? If you do, you are clearly showing your age. Even in 2008, as Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities points out, China produced more steel than the USA, the EU and Japan put [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LI KA-SHING PAYS £5.8BN FOR UK UTILITY EDF of France is set to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure of Hong Kong for £5.8bn, 45 per cent more than the price originally suggested for the deal, according to a person close to the negotiations. The state-controlled French electricity group [...]
GM plots listing July 23, 2010 GENERAL Motors plans to file its registration for an initial public offering during the week of 16 August, just after the expected date for its second quarter results, according to US sources. A GM filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission would be the first step towards an IPO to reduce the US government’s [...]