Michael Page looks abroad January 11, 2012 RECRUITMENT company Michael Page is to go ahead with plans to enter more emerging markets where it sees long-term growth opportunities, it said yesterday as it reported that growth slowed further in the fourth quarter. Michael Page said that, while being mindful of a tough global economy that has rapidly stunted growth levels over the [...]
La Senza and Blacks saved from brink January 9, 2012 IT WAS all change on the high street yesterday after two of the UK’s stricken retailers, lingerie chain La Senza and outdoor sportswear company Blacks Leisure, were rescued from administration. Retailer JD Sports confirmed yesterday that it had bought all of Blacks’ 290 stores and the bulk of its business from its administrator KPMG in [...]
GOLF RETURNS TO THE BOARDROOM AS CITY FIRM TEES UP TENANTS January 9, 2012 PLAYING golf in the office has gone the same way as four-hour lunches and six-figure bonuses in the austerity City. Or has it? Teeing up deals on the putting green will be business as usual at the new City offices run by serviced office provider Co-Work, which is looking for 101 tenants for its latest [...]
MELLON’S ASIAN CV IS NO BARRIER TO NEW GIG January 8, 2012 THE WELL-RESTED Lloyds boss António Horta-Osório is not the only City name making a new start this morning. Today is also the first day for veteran fund manager Jim Mellon (right) as non-executive director of Aim-listed urological manufacturer Plethora. Chairman Bill Robinson tells me: “We look forward to [Mellon’s] input at the board with his [...]
To revive a weak economy small firms must be able to become tomorrow’s giants January 8, 2012 AT THE dawn of a New Year, one bright spot across the gloom of the economic horizon remains Britain’s army of entrepreneurs – those remarkable men and women who have the drive and passion to launch and run their own business. For it is these often family-owned ventures – the small and medium enterprises (SME) [...]
Blockbusters boost Cineworld January 5, 2012 Movie giants such as The King’s Speech, the latest Harry Potter instalment and Twilight helped UK cinema chain Cineworld post a revenue increase of 1.5 per cent last year. While suffering sales of 3D glasses and a fall in screen advertising will bring other income down, Cineworld is looking at a rise of 2.7 per [...]
Regulation can’t wipe out the risk of another Enron January 5, 2012 MOST of us don’t need reminding about the 2001 accounting fraud that became known as the Enron scandal – $11bn of value wiped out in what was at the time the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy ever – and which also brought down Arthur Andersen. On 17 December last year, Enron’s chief financial officer Andrew Fastow [...]
To Bonaparte, with love from China January 2, 2012 THE rich and international do not tire of Paris. Though it was hardly lacking in ultra-luxe period hotels before, the city evidently needed more. And so last year saw the opening of two major hotels, The Mandarin Oriental and the Shangri-La, signifying not only Paris’s ever-ascendant position on the global luxury circuit, but an overt [...]
TAXPAYERS PETITION FOR PRIVATISATION OF THATCHER’S FUNERAL December 22, 2011 WHICH investment bank will underwrite the ticket sales at Margaret Thatcher’s privatised funeral? The Capitalist only asks because, as of last night, more than 14,000 people had signed up to the e-petition posted by Scott Morgan declaring that the Iron Lady’s state funeral should be funded and managed by the private sector. After all, Baroness [...]
Broker Daniel Stewart sinks in the first half December 22, 2011 DANIEL Stewart Securities, one of a clutch of small brokers operating in the City, has posted a first-half loss after the European sovereign debt crisis led to the deals market drying up. The AIM-listed firm made a pre-tax loss of £605,952 for the six months to 30 September, compared to a profit of £190,572 for [...]