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 [...]
Lloyds plans to axe 5,000 further jobs November 10, 2009 ANOTHER 5,000 jobs will be lost at Lloyds Banking Group, bringing the total number of sackings to 12,500 since the credit crunch began. Lloyds employees were yesterday warned by banking experts that there could be up to 30,000 sackings before the Lloyds-HBOS merger is complete. Unions branded the cuts, which were announced on the same [...]
Allianz profit jumps due to life insurance November 9, 2009 ALLIANZ, Europe’s biggest insurer, yesterday reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter, thanks to strong trading in life insurance and asset management. And the firm said it was well-placed to capitalise on the improving global economy as it posted a 23 per cent jump in operating profit. But despite the strong results, the insurer refused [...]
Douglas quits Laing O’Rourke November 9, 2009 Tony Douglas, the chief operating officer at the UK’s biggest privately owned construction company Laing O’Rourke, quit yesterday, and chief executive Ray O’Rourke halted his plans to step down from his post. Douglas, who had been managing director at Heathrow airport, was being groomed to take on the top job, and had been tasked with [...]
Bonus row to reignite at Barclays and HSBC November 8, 2009 BARCLAYS and HSBC will risk stirring up more public anger over bankers’ pay tomorrow when they are likely to report strong third quarter results – and bumper bonuses to match. Both Barclays and HSBC avoided taking Government cash to survive the global financial crisis but that is unlikely to protect either from criticism over the [...]