Property firms circle Lend Lease’s £550m Bluewater stake April 28, 2014 Some of the UK property industry’s biggest players are circling Lendlease’s £550m cent stake in Bluewater shopping centre in what could become a heated battle for the prized site. British Land, Land Securities, Hammerson, Westfield, Intu and M&G Real Estate are reported to have all lodged initial expression of interest in the Kent shopping centre, [...]
City Moves for 12 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 11, 2014 Kames Capital Craig Bonthron has been appointed investment manager in the investment management firm’s global equity team. He joins from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, where he was an investment director and joint manager of the Swip Global Sustainability Equity and Global Islamic Equity funds. Herbert Smith Freehills James Palmer has been appointed senior partner and [...]
Tesco in turmoil: Share price dives after £2bn is wiped off market value September 22, 2014 Britain’s largest retailer suspends four executives and launches probes after £250m profit overstating debacle. Tesco shares plunged 12 per cent yesterday after the embattled supermarket chain admitted that an error in its accounts meant profits for the last six months would be £250m lower than expected. The retailer has suspended four senior executives, [...]
Tesco sheds three more executives in wake of profit overstatement October 14, 2014 Tesco has asked three non-executive directors to leave the company, taking the total number of departures in less than a month since it revealed a £250m black hole in its profit to eight. The supermarket said in a statement: "We have asked three employees to step aside to facilitate the investigation into the potential overstatement [...]
Original thought February 23, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks to Adam & Eve’s Jon Forsyth about the importance of agility COMMUNICATIONS agency Adam & Eve shook assumptions about the demise of traditional media when it created the 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert (one of five it has now done for the store). The agency was launched in 2008 and merged with [...]
Mutuals will stay high street bit players for many Christmases yet December 17, 2013 MUTUALS and co-operatives have been promoted as the acceptable side of business by both arms of the coalition. Nick Clegg has lauded the Waitrose and John Lewis model. Advisers to David Cameron, as well as Vince Cable, have argued that the banking sector would be more stable if more companies followed the mutual model. But [...]
Brand Index: How brands should appeal to the wallets of the wealthy March 11, 2014 YOUTH-OBSESSED marketers are barking up the wrong tree, and the over-45 crowd is the real consumer goldmine, according to a new study named Generation Wealth. The principal mistake that marketers have made in the past is deciding to treat the over-45s differently from other potential customers, according to the research published by YouGov and Immediate [...]
Tesco suspends Kevin Grace: Fifth executive leaves over £250m profit miss October 7, 2014 Tesco has suspended a fifth director over a shock discovery last month of an error in its accounts which meant first half profits were overstated by £250m. Kevin Grace, Tesco’s group commercial director, was asked on Monday to step aside as Deloitte and Freshfields carry out their investigation into what went wrong in Tesco’s accounts. [...]
Brand Index: Never mind the hare and bear – Brits are going budget December 17, 2013 OUR RECENT online focus group of people from the so-called “squeezed middle” revealed that they are not feeling the benefits of the economic recovery and also have virtually no faith in politicians (from any political party) to help improve their lot. This week I will delve into which brands the squeezed middle are warming to this [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 31 March 2014 March 31, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES SocGen accused over Libya deals The Libyan Investment Authority has accused Société Générale of helping to funnel bribes worth tens of millions of dollars to close associates of Saif al-Islam, the son of former Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi. The claim was made in a $1.5bn lawsuit filed against the French bank in London’s [...]