Carrefour closes China store March 19, 2012 EUROPEAN retail giant Carrefour is to temporarily close one of its stores in China, a local government official said yesterday, days after state media said the chain was passing off regular chicken as free-range meat. The closure is the latest case of Chinese officials cracking down on foreign brands and comes after food safety authorities said [...]
Cameron: We need privatised roads March 18, 2012 ROAD PRICING and greater use of toll roads could become a reality as the government seeks to find ways to entice the private sector to invest more in infrastructure. David Cameron will today launch a new study into the financing and ownership of Britain’s roads, arguing the country “urgently” needs “to repair the decades-long degradation [...]
F&C takes hit as outflows reach £7bn March 15, 2012 SHARES in F&C Asset Management sank nearly five per cent yesterday after it posted £7.2bn of net outflows during last year. The fund management firm, which has endured a turbulent 12 months including a boardroom coup and a series of job cuts, saw total assets under management drop 5.4 per cent to £100.1bn after the [...]
It’s not just lawyers who prosper in law March 14, 2012 LAW is bigger business than ever. Freshfields employs 5,000 people and has twenty-seven offices in sixteen countries. Linklaters also has twenty-seven offices in twenty countries. Its revenues in 2010-11 were £1.2bn. Of course, this is good news for lawyers. But non-lawyers work for law firms too. Of Freshfields’ 5,000 staff members, 2,000 are business services [...]
Peak fares set to rise in rail savings plan March 8, 2012 THE RAIL network must cut £3.5bn a year from its spending and overhaul ticket prices, transport secretary Justine Greening said yesterday. Setting out the coalition’s plan to shake up Britain’s trains, Greening said above-inflation fare rises on regulated routes will be abolished. But she said she will look into hiking prices on congested peak journeys [...]
Schroders stock-picker goes March 8, 2012 BLUE-chip money manager Schroders capped one of the more turbulent years in its two-century history with the departure of its chief investment officer. Alan Brown, well-known for his annual Crystal Ball prediction evenings, will step down from his post and from the board, the firm said yesterday, as it reported a near-halving in asset management [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 8, 2012 AFC Energy The developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cell technology has announced the appointment of Sir John Sunderland as non-executive director of the company. Sunderland has spent 40 years in leadership roles, best known as the former chief executive and later as chairman of Cadbury Schweppes. Currently Sunderland is a non-executive director of Barclays Bank, [...]
Greece helps US regain week’s loss March 8, 2012 US stocks rose yesterday, recovering most of the week’s losses, after Greece moved closer to a bond swap with private creditors to avoid a messy default. Earlier in the week, the S&P 500 posted its first big loss for the year on fears of a disorderly default in Greece. Now it is down just 0.3 [...]
Schroders weathers volatile 2011 March 8, 2012 Blue chip investment manager Schroders (SDR.L) said an injection of institutional money kept its net inflows for 2011 positive against a backdrop of wobbly markets that sent many retail clients headed for the exits. In full year earnings for 2011, Schroders said total net inflows were £3.2bn with a £6.8bn net gain in institutional money [...]
Cineworld profit lifted by blockbusters March 8, 2012 British cinema chain Cineworld posted a higher full-year profit helped by a string of popular releases during the Christmas season, and said it expected a strong blockbuster line-up for 2012. The operator of cinema complexes throughout the UK and Ireland said films such as the latest in the Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and [...]