Thomas Cook share price plummets as chief exec Harriet Green steps down in the wake of rising profits November 26, 2014 With Thomas Cook revealing further growth for a second consecutive year, chief executive Harriet Green is satisfied with a job well done and has stepped down from the role. Chief operating officer Peter Fankhauser will take over with immediate effect to pilot the company which enjoyed narrowing losses and a rise in underlying profit in [...]
Amazon debuts Post Office pick-up service in new deal with Royal Mail November 24, 2014 Shoppers will soon be able to collect products ordered on Amazon at their local Post Office branch in a new deal announced today by the online retail giant and the Royal Mail. Amazon said it has signed up Royal Mail’s Local Collect service, giving its customers the option of collecting goods from any one of [...]
Uber hires Hogan Lovells to probe data policies November 21, 2014 Uber has hired Hogan Lovells to review its data policies, amid controversy surrounding its handling of users' private data. It has hired a team of Hogan Lovells lawyers who will review and make recommendations on its data policy. The team will be led by Harriet Pearson, a partner at the law firm's Washington office, who [...]
Record results for Gatwick as it seeks to grow November 20, 2014 GATWICK airport revealed record passenger numbers and a strong set of results yesterday, as the debate over whether to expand it or its rival Heathrow hots up. Despite a drop in pre-tax profit, owing to accounting adjustments, the group posted an 8.6 per cent increase in turnover to £391.6m and profit before tax of £122.4m. [...]
GoDaddy pushing ahead with $4.5bn IPO as Google announces plan to enter its domain November 20, 2014 GoDaddy.com is pushing ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) early next year that would value the world’s biggest domain registration service at roughly $4.5bn (£2.9bn). A report yesterday in the New York Post said that chief financial officer Scott Wagner met analysts last week to give an update on GoDaddy since it first filed [...]
Eastern woes weighing on Raiffeisen Bank November 20, 2014 AUSTRIAN group Raiffeisen Bank International posted a €119m (£95m) net loss in the third quarter, as the Russian rouble’s crash, tensions in Ukraine and Hungarian legislation hit its lending and banking operations. Karl Sevelda, Raiffeisen’s chief executive, said that such “negative one-off effects” had hit the bank’s results. However, he hoped it would bounce back [...]
FTSE weighed down by poor Chinese data – London Report November 20, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday fell for a second day, hit by weak economic data from the Eurozone and China and a profit warning from energy supplier Centrica. The blue chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.3 per cent lower at 6,678.90 points, extending its retreat from an eightweek high reached on the previous day. Centrica, [...]
When is the best time to go Christmas shopping? Here are London’s busiest days so you can avoid them November 20, 2014 Next week is expected to see the start of the Christmas rush with Black Friday on November 28 – a US import that was brought about to stimulate spend after Thanksgiving. Fast becoming a crucial part in the retail calendar, high street names such as John Lewis are predicting big things, with many [...]
Home loan rates set to drop more as HSBC introduces record low mortgage of 0.99pc November 19, 2014 Mortgage rates are poised to break new records and edge even further down. HSBC recently made headlines by introducing a record low mortgage rate of 0.99 per cent, with economists from the bank predicting policy rates would stay at their all-time lows of 0.5 per cent until at least 2016. It looks unlikely to end [...]
Ofcom appoints Steve Unger as CEO until next year November 19, 2014 Communications watchdog Ofcom yesterday announced the appointment of Steve Unger as interim chief executive until the post is filled permanently in early 2015. He will replace Ed Richards who leaves his post at the end of the year. Unger is currently director of the strategy, international, technology and economist group at the regulator. Richards resigned [...]