Rose bags 28 per cent hike in pay packet June 4, 2009 STUART Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, collected a share windfall of £288,000 last year, boosting his total income by 28 per cent. Rose collected £1.76m for the year ending March 2009, up from £1.38m a year earlier. Although Rose’s basic salary was frozen at £1.13m and he received no bonus for the second [...]
Bad shops are to blame for our withering High St June 24, 2009 THIS week a rare opportunity to watch television saw me glued to a programme presented by the self-styled “Queen of Shops” Mary Portas. Focusing on the death of that great British institution the High Street, Portas probed the decline of traditional retailers and voiced her fears for the future of our nation of shopkeepers and [...]
Bargains help New Look to book a profit June 3, 2009 BUDGET clothing retailer New Look said yesterday it snatched market share from high street rivals Marks & Spencer and Next in the year to end March, as the recession caused consumers to seek cheaper fashion alternatives. The group, owned jointly by founder Tom Singh and private equity giants Permira and Apax, reported a pre-tax profit [...]
Vodafone saves the day as the high street struggles on June 18, 2009 STRENGTH in Vodafone and defensive tobacco stocks pushed the FTSE 100 into positive ground yesterday, but gains were muted and offset by sliding commodity stocks. The index closed 2.40 points lower at 4,280.86, having closed down 50.11 points, or 1.2 per cent the previous session. Heavyweight mobile phone operator Vodafone was the biggest positive impact [...]
SLICE OF OLD-BOY STYLE HITS CITY FINE WINING AND DINING CIRCUIT July 8, 2009 NOT so long ago, City types were busy bemoaning the lack of decent restaurants on their patch. But now, just weeks after the Galvin brothers announced they were opening a new pad near Spitalfields market, I hear there’s a new eatery coming to town, courtesy of Simon Parker Bowles, former brother-in-law to Camilla, Duchess of [...]
Britain’s transport policy in deep crisis July 1, 2009 BRITAIN’S transport policy is in chaos. This is hardly news, you might say, but the issue is once again at the fore. It is clear that there is a big problem with the way the rail franchises have been allocated. Firms have an incentive to bid too much for a franchise because they know that [...]
SALTY OLD SEADOG OF PROPERTY TAKES TO HIGH SEAS ONCE AGAIN June 21, 2009 PROPERTY guru Mike Slade’s firm Helical Bar might have crashed further into the red over the past year as its annual losses tripled, but it hasn’t stopped the salty old seadog getting up to his usual tricks. Outside of the property world, the 61-year-old is best known for his passion for sailing, having racked up [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 9, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESSTRATEGIC REVAMP FOR LLOYD’SLloyd’s of London has begun the biggest strategic review it has undertaken this decade in an attempt to ensure the more than 320-year-old insurance market does not fail in exploiting the gaps in the market thrown up by the financial crisis. The institution, which deals in insurance risks from all over the [...]
Financials prove that what goes up must come down May 20, 2009 THE FTSE 100 closed 0.3 per cent lower yesterday, with shaky financial stocks offsetting strength in heavyweight oils and miners. The index ended the session down 13.84 points at 4,468.41, up 0.8 per cent on the year, having gained nearly 30 per cent since a six-year low hit on 9 March. “We are still in [...]
Rose under fire after M&S profits plunge May 19, 2009 SHARES in Marks & Spencer plummeted yesterday after the retailer’s boss Sir Stuart Rose unveiled a 40 per cent collapse in profit and slashed the final dividend by 33.1 per cent. Any hopes of a quick recovery in the sector were quashed after the M&S executive chairman said he was “was not in green-shoots mode [...]