The defence industry boss who is reshaping his firm for new realities September 28, 2010 FOR Cobham’s chief executive Andy Stevens, life is measured out in five-year plans. The head of the FTSE 100 defence company first joined the business in 2003 as head of its aerospace division and played a key role in the 2005 strategic review that “took a root a branch look at our operations and decided [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 27, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BRAZIL IN GLOBAL CURRENCY WAR’ ALERT An “interntaional currency war” has broken out according to Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, as governments around the world comcompete to power their exhange rates to boost competiveness. Mantega’s comments in Sao Paulo follow a series of interventions by central banks in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan [...]
McGrigors looks at UK expansion with new post September 26, 2010 MCGRIGORS, one of Scotland’s largest law firms, has overhauled its management structure after appointing Kirk Murdoch as the new UK-wide senior partner. Murdoch, who has been a partner with the law firm for 28 years, will assume the newly created role at the start of next month. His new post, which will effectively see him [...]
It’s a landlord’s market for hungry Londoners September 23, 2010 THE period of fear, uncertainty and stagnation in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ collapse is well and truly behind us – if you’re looking at the rentals market, that is. Prices in central London are at levels not seen since before the meltdown, according to property services firm LSL. Rents in London rose by 2 [...]
RSM Tenon in profit boost September 22, 2010 ACCOUNTANCY?firm RSM Tenon posted a 37 per cent increase in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit yesterday, thanks to two acquisitions. The accountancy and advisory firm, which moved to London’s main market in May, said adjusted pre-tax profit was £24.1m, up from £17.6m a year ago. It raised its dividend by seven per cent to 1.6p per [...]
Asda unveils £100m brand make-over September 21, 2010 THE unveiling of Asda’s Chosen By You range saw chief executive Andy Clarke take centre stage as he claimed the £100m project would be “game changing” because it was the first time a supermarket had put so much time and money into updating its mid-range products. More than 40,000 consumers across the UK took part [...]
A tricky balancing act on tax reform September 21, 2010 CONFERENCE season is upon us and the next few weeks will be the first time the parties have had since May to slow down and take stock of this brave new post-coalition political world. Given the breakneck speed at which the coalition has been implementing its policies so far, the conference pause is also a [...]
UK deficit a record high for August September 21, 2010 Britain last month posted a record budget deficit for August as interest payments on index-linked gilts shot up because of higher inflation than a year ago, official data showed. The Office for Nationals Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing came in at £15.302bn, well above analysts’ forecasts for a reading of £12.5bn and some [...]
JCB CHAIR TAKES THE HONOURS AT GOODWOOD September 19, 2010 TO SUSSEX yesterday for the final day of the Goodwood Revival classic car festival, where a raft of senior figures from the City were slogging it out against each other on the track in the most prestigious race of the weekend – the Royal Automobile Club TT race. The race – a one-hour, two-driver challenge [...]
Watchdogs face merger as cuts begin September 16, 2010 THE Competition Commission (CC) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) could merge to form a single oversight body as early as next year, it has emerged. According to the BBC, the coalition government could revive earlier plans by Labour to combine the two market watchdogs. The BBC said that the marriage is currently on [...]