Host Brandreth outshines the gong winners
LONDON’S share price heroes were out in force last night at the KPMG UK Stock Market Awards but there wasn’t a winner in the room that could make as much of an impression as host Gyles Brandreth did as he blustered his way through the gong list.
Brandreth mistook absent EasyJet boss Carolyn McCall (travel and leisure winner) for a man saying “he’s not here because he flew FlyBe” and he joked that a special screening of Wolf of Wall St was on at 1am. All was taken well.
Among the winners were Vodafone for Deal of the Year, Prudential for Financial plc of the Year and Next for both retailer of the year and investor communications and Optimal Payments’ Joel Leonoff for chief exec of the year.
Thomas Cook picked up FD of the Year – The Capitalist bumped into a shivering CEO Harriet Green during the reception. “It’s always cold at the reception part,” she said in her big jacket, clearly a seasoned awards goer. She went on to disclose that she always wanted to run a post office when she was younger. Well, should Royal Mail (whose CEO is Moya Greene) ever wish to switch to another Green…