Former BBC and Yahoo exec Fabiola Arredondo is joining Burberry March 11, 2015 UK fashion house Burberry yesterday appointed former BBC and Yahoo executive Fabiola Arredondo to its board. It hopes the Spanish-American will bring her digital consumer savvy to the non-executive director role and the audit, remuneration and nomination committees. Once named the most influential woman in European business, Arredondo comes to Burberry after repeatedly smashing [...]
Glencore in debt for equity swap with Russneft March 11, 2015 Mining firm Glencore is finalising a purchase of a 49 per cent stake in Russian oil refinery firm Russneft. The companies are preparing a deal to convert $900m (£604m) of debt into equity, which will see Glencore take on a 49 per cent holding in the producing side of the Russian firm. Glencore, which is [...]
Late afternoon commodity rise lifts FTSE index – London Report March 11, 2015 COMMODITY stocks in the FTSE recovered well yesterday afternoon, from falling sharply earlier in the session because of concerns about economic growth in China, to drag the blue-chip index up. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.28 per cent higher at 6,721.51 points after a choppy session, which saw the index rising as high as 6,738.95 [...]
FTSE 100 women dine with Vince Cable in bid to highlight female representation on boards March 10, 2015 Vince Cable last night welcomed more than 100 women from the business world to a dinner at Lancaster House, in a bid to convince sceptics that top companies are improving the female representation on their boards. The business secretary’s department says the target of having 25 per cent of FTSE 100 board positions held by [...]
Tidjane Thiam quits Prudential for Credit Suisse: The exit of a chief exec who defied the odds March 10, 2015 Back in 2010, you would never have expected Tidjane Thiam to receive this reaction on his departure from Prudential. An ill-fated acquisition bid left shareholders fuming – the attempt to buy AIA for £21bn saw the insurer lose £373m and Thiam took the blame. On top of that, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) censured him, fining [...]
From Standard Chartered to Prudential: Changing the guard at banks – Bottom Line March 10, 2015 When floods of bosses quit, you should normally be worried. Think of the financial crisis, or the heads that rolled in the wake of the Libor scandal. But this time it is different, and that is surely a good sign. The Pru’s boss has unexpectedly quit, to replace Brady Dougan as the head of Credit [...]
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot gets £3.5m after fending off Pfizer March 10, 2015 The head of drugs giant AstraZeneca was given a £3.5m payday last year after he fought off a hostile takeover bid from Pfizer. Pascal Soriot’s pay packet was up from £3.3m the previous year and consisted of an annual bonus of £1.9m, equivalent to 170 per cent of his base salary, according to the firm’s [...]
Property giant Hammerson uses new virtual walkthrough tech to lure buyers March 10, 2015 Anglo-French property giant Hammerson has teamed up with a property tech startup to map all its shopping centres and retail parks in the UK by using virtual Google street view-style technology. Virtual Walkthrough was set up three years ago by James Morris-Manuel, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield, and Antony Waldorf, a serial entrepreneur who sold [...]
Online grocery delivery firm Ocado follows first profit with a bigger share of the market March 10, 2015 OCADO yesterday reported an acceleration in sales growth of 15.2 per cent to £252m in the first quarter of its financial year. The online supermarket exceeded analysts’ estimates and shows a gain in the online grocery and overall market shares. Revenue rose by 19.2 per cent to £271m in the 12 weeks to 22 February, [...]
Analyst predicts Barclays will cut investment arm March 10, 2015 Barclays will struggle to reform its investment banking operations, and could have to announce a series of major cuts to the unit, Macquarie analyst Ed Firth predicted yesterday. Chief executive Antony Jenkins and finance boss Tushar Morzaria last week committed to the arm’s future in the bank, but did note that more changes would be [...]