THE NEW YORK REPORT November 30, 2009 US STOCKS rose yesterday, helping the Dow post its fifth straight monthly gain, on hopes that possible fallout from Dubai’s debt woes will be contained. Shortly before the market closed, Dubai’s largest company said its planned restructuring of some units involved Bk in debt, easing some concerns about the size of Dubai’s financial problems. An [...]
Soldiers and school kids help Compass beat slump November 25, 2009 COMPASS Group,the world’s biggest caterer, showed its recession-proof credentials yesterday, posting a 33 per cent profit rise which topped market expectations and propelled its shares to a seven-year high. The company, which feeds office workers, soldiers and schoolchildren, said underlying pre-tax profit for the year to end September reached £784m, up from £589m the year [...]
Ashley hires new chair to Sports Direct November 24, 2009 SPORTSWEAR retailer Sports Direct, has ended its two-and-a-half year search for a permanent chairman, by appointing Keith Hellawell, the government’s former drugs tsar. The position has been vacant since David Richardson quit the post in May 2007, having decided he could not work with billionaire Mike Ashley, who owns 71 per cent of the group. [...]
CBI boss Richard Lambert can see early signs of economic recovery November 19, 2009 THE worst is over for the British economy. At least, that was the message from Richard Lambert, the Confederation of Business Industry’s (CBI) thoughtful director-general, when we meet. “We have finally hit the deck,” he tells me, leaning forward. “Things are a lot better now than in the first quarter of this year. Where we [...]
Retail sales post increase for October November 19, 2009 UK RETAIL sales in October rose at their fastest annual pace in 17 months, according to official statistics released yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said sales were up 3.4 per cent compared to the same month last year. But the 0.4 per cent rise on September was less than the 0.7 per cent [...]
Art collections at banks are becoming a big business November 17, 2009 YESTERDAY it was announced that Asia’s biggest art fair, the Hong Kong-based Art HK, is to be sponsored for the next five years by Deutsche Bank. The fair’s previous sponsor, Lehman Brothers, had its art collection auctioned off earlier this month to the tune of $1.35m, including works by Pop Art superstars Roy Lichtenstein and [...]
Crossrail’s chairman says the 16bn project is set to push ahead in 2010 November 17, 2009 The last time I saw Terry Morgan was a year ago at 2am, underneath Leicester Square. Then he was the Tube Lines chief executive and was standing on the underground tracks between Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations, telling a couple of engineers exactly what he thought of their work. This meeting could not be [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 16, 2009 Newton Investment ManagementThe asset manager has promoted Simon Pryke to the post of head of its private investment management division. Pryke, who will also join the board, was previously investment leader for global research at Newton, a position he had held since 2003. He joined the firm in 1996 as a financials analyst. Roger Wilkinson, [...]
Another boss to step down from TNK-BP November 11, 2009 BILLIONAIRE Mikhail Fridman yesterday said that he is likely to step down as acting chief executive of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which will appoint a new permanent chief. The void at the helm of TNK-BP is the result of a row over strategy and control that erupted last year between BP and the four [...]
Imps lights up with new boss November 10, 2009 IMPERIAL Tobacco yesterday posted a 52 per cent jump in annual pre-tax profits and announced that its chief executive Gareth Davis, who has served the company for 37 years, is set to retire. He named chief operating officer Alison Cooper as his successor. Chairman Iain Napier said 59-year-old Davis had transformed Imperial from a business [...]