How to manage the web of social media April 25, 2012 SOCIAL media has revolutionised the way that companies communicate with their clients, allowing instant responses to customer needs. Whether via embedded instant messenger (IM) help on a customer query site or publicising your latest pension offering, social media can help your business. British retail banks are hardly known for their willingness to embrace change and [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 24, 2012 DC Advisory Partners The corporate finance advisory firm has announced the appointment of Terry Huffine as executive director in its European consumer, leisure and retail team. Huffine joins after eight years with ABN AMRO and, following its acquisition, at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was a director on the consumer team. He also [...]
TIMELINE | CABLE & WIRELESS April 23, 2012 1860s Sir John Pender founds a number of British telegraph companies. 1928 Various radio and telegraph companies throughout the British Empire merge into Imperial & International Communications Limited, which becomes Cable and Wireless Limited in 1934. 1947 The Labour government nationalises Cable & Wireless. All its UK assets are integrated with those of the Post Office. [...]
LONDON REPORT April 22, 2012 UK investors are set for a busy week with a slew of earnings both here and on Wall Street, the release of Britain’s quarterly GDP rate and a decision from the Fed on the US Bank rate. Both the Nationwide Housing Prices report and Nationwide Consumer Confidence report are due out this week and today’s [...]
Microsoft beats expectations to push shares up April 19, 2012 MICROSOFT beat its profit forecast as PC sales held up better than expected, it revealed last night, lifting its shares 2.5 per cent in after hours trading. The results buoyed optimism around the world’s largest software maker, which is lining up a new tablet-friendly version of Windows for later this year and is looking to [...]
BlackRock boss gloomy while profit ticks up April 18, 2012 BLACKROCK chief executive Laurence Fink has issued a warning over the health of global markets as the world’s largest money manager beat expectations to post almost flat profits. He said the markets were “quite fragile” despite a powerful rally in the first quarter, driven in part by an easing in turmoil in Europe. Major investors [...]
Japanese confidence jumps April 17, 2012 The mood of Japanese consumers improved to a one-year high last month, according to a cabinet office survey published yesterday. Consumer confidence was boosted by hopes for support from post-quake reconstruction, following last year’s devastating natural disaster. The survey’s index showed that views on income and jobs averaged 40.3 in March, up from 39.9 in [...]
Diversity is about far more than making your company look nice April 17, 2012 Making the most of diverse ways of thought is central to getting your business to perform at its full potential DIVERSITY is often a word thrown around in business without much thought. Too often, “diversity” is seen as a presentational device: something that looks good in a corporate social responsibility report. “What does our company [...]
UK inflation rises April 17, 2012 British inflation ticked up in March, driven by higher food and clothing prices and reinforcing expectations the Bank of England will not inject more stimulus into the economy next month. The Bank of England and the government have been hoping that falling price pressures will ease the squeeze on Britons’ budgets and boost consumer spending. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 16, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES AB InBev takes over Dominica’s CND Anheuser-Busch InBev is to pay $1.24bn for control of fellow brewer Cervecería Nacional Dominicana. Cautious go-ahead for fracking The future of hydraulic fracturing – known as fracking – the contentious natural gas extraction technology – has been boosted after a report cleared the way for a company [...]