City must beware tit-for-tat finance regulations July 5, 2009 It has often been said that the UK should aspire to be a “bridge” between the US and the European Union. Well, the reform of financial regulation and supervision is a case in point. During my recent visit to Washington I met senior administration officials in the White House and Treasury, regulators at the SEC [...]
Three MPs out over expenses May 28, 2009 THREE more MPs said yesterday they would not stand at the next election after they became caught up in the expenses scandal. Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride and Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, both said they would quit politics after facing “enormous pressure” from “unbearably intense” media scrutiny. Tory MP Kirkbride faced a showdown [...]
Three MPs out over expenses May 28, 2009 THREE more MPs said yesterday they would not stand at the next election after they became caught up in the expenses scandal. Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride and Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, both said they would quit politics after facing “enormous pressure” from “unbearably intense” media scrutiny. Tory MP Kirkbride faced a showdown [...]
When the going’s tough, the City goes shopping June 28, 2009 SIR Stuart Rose has recently waived more than £1m worth of Marks & Spencers share options, and could come under more pressure at this week’s annual meeting. Discount retailers like Aldi and Lidl have just announced a slowdown in growth, while on TV Mary Portas has moved from advising high street stores to charity shops. [...]
Debenhams in call June 4, 2009 High street retailer Debenhams yesterday announced plans for a £323m fundraising to fulfill chief executive Rob Templeman’s plan to take its debt “off the agenda.” Debenham’s £900m debt mountain has cast a long shadow over the group’s trading ever since private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and CVC Capital Partners floated the business on the [...]
Debenhams raising flops June 23, 2009 HIGHSTREET retailer Debenhams yesterday said its shareholders had taken up just a third of its share offering in a £323m fundraising. The department store chain launched the cash call earlier this month to achieve chief executive Rob Templeman’s aim of taking its £900m debt mountain “off the agenda”. Britain’s second largest high-street retailer said 73,388,851 [...]
Debenhams raising flops June 23, 2009 HIGHSTREET retailer Debenhams yesterday said its shareholders had taken up just a third of its share offering in a £323m fundraising. The department store chain launched the cash call earlier this month to achieve chief executive Rob Templeman’s aim of taking its £900m debt mountain “off the agenda”. Britain’s second largest high-street retailer said 73,388,851 [...]
EU SLAMMED OVER CITY POWER GRAB June 14, 2009 THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) is being too hasty in its drive for pan-European regulatory reform, a House of Lords committee will warn this week, as fears mount in the City over encroachment from Brussels on the UK financial services sector. The House of Lords sub-committee on economic and financial affairs will say that the pace [...]
Tube strikes are a blot on our global reputation June 14, 2009 MY HEART sank when the International Herald Tribune splashed a large photograph of London commuters struggling to get to work on its front cover. Although the article rightly complimented Londoners on their determination to keep businesses going in the face of crippling tube strikes, it made me angry. This is not the image of London [...]
Tube strikes are a blot on our global reputation June 14, 2009 MY HEART sank when the International Herald Tribune splashed a large photograph of London commuters struggling to get to work on its front cover. Although the article rightly complimented Londoners on their determination to keep businesses going in the face of crippling tube strikes, it made me angry. This is not the image of London [...]