The Tube boss who is battling to rebuild the world’s oldest network November 17, 2010 It has been a tough few months for the new managing director of London Underground. Mike Brown, a company veteran who returned in March, faces his fourth strike over the axing of ticket office jobs in a matter of weeks. Tube unions RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association say getting rid of 800 ticket [...]
British Land eyes disposal of City assets November 16, 2010 LONDON landlord British Land intends to sell assets in the City financial district as it takes a more trading-focused investment strategy, adding an uptick in its exposure to prime offices may not last long. The company said yesterday its £1bn share in developing 2.1m square feet of prime offices in central London would see its [...]
Cable & Wireless Worldwide says it is happy with current full-year target November 16, 2010 TELECOMS firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide is comfortable with full-year expectations after posting first-half sales and earnings in line with forecasts despite pressure from cuts to UK public spending. C&W Worldwide (CWW), which concentrates on the global corporate market and has a large presence in Britain, said the “satisfactory” results had been held back by [...]
K1 founder charged with fraud for Ponzi scheme November 16, 2010 HELMUT Kiener, founder of German hedge fund group K1, is being charged with fraud, forgery of documents and tax evasion more than a year after he was arrested in a multi-million-dollar investigation. He is accused of having swindled investors out of about €345m (£293.6m) with an elaborate Ponzi scheme, the public prosecutors’ office in Wuerzburg, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 14, 2010 3i Group After the merging of its buyout and capital growth divisions and the departure of several top dealmakers from 3i Group’s buyout team this autumn, the group recently recruited three new members for its senior leadership team. Leader of infrastructure business Cressida Hogg (pictured) will join head of UK markets Alan Giddins and Menno [...]
Land Securities ramps up City development plans November 11, 2010 LAND Securities, the country’s largest listed property firm, posted a 6.7 per cent rise in the value of its net assets yesterday and pledged to accelerate its development work in the City. Land Securities’ portfolio gained 3.4 per cent in value to £9.7bn in the six months to the end of September, and the firm [...]
Lord Mayor’s show promises pomp, pageantry and a zulu dance troupe November 11, 2010 The City of London will host the Lord Mayor’s Show this Saturday, celebrating the 683rd Lord Mayor Michael Bear. The parade, which starts tomorrow at 11am, follows the new Mayor as he swears allegiance to the Queen. The event will be one of the biggest ever, with 6,000 participants, including Hong Kong acrobats, South African [...]
Violence at student fees demo leads to 35 arrests November 10, 2010 HUNDREDS of protestors stormed the Conservative party headquarters yesterday after a protest over university tuition fees spiralled out of control, leading to a total of 35 arrests. The Metropolitan Police said last night that 14 people had been taken to hospital, including seven police officers, for injuries picked up during the protests in which 52,000 [...]
GM delivers $2bn in profit ahead of IPO November 10, 2010 US CARMAKER General Motors (GM) posted a $2bn (£1.24bn) third-quarter profit yesterday, driven by an accelerating turnaround in North America as it rushes to complete an initial public stock offering (IPO) set for next week. The quarterly profit was the largest for GM since it emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009 and provides the last [...]
Post Office to serve banks’ customers November 9, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest customers will be able to access current and business accounts at Britain’s 12,000 post offices after the government ditched plans for a state-backed Post Office bank. The agreement means post offices will provide services for 80 per cent of current accounts in Britain, postal affairs minister Edward Davey [...]