April showers dampen profits for Kingfisher May 31, 2012 KINGFISHER, Europe’s biggest home improvements chain, yesterday blamed miserable weather in April and a weakening euro, for a steep fall in first quarter profits. “We anticipated the first quarter would be challenging, compared with last year’s strong growth which was boosted by favourable spring weather and public holidays,” chief executive Ian Cheshire said. “But an [...]
The Manchester medal factory: Be grateful for this strange cluster of genius August 16, 2012 THE Manchester velodrome is a medal factory. It won as many golds in this summer’s Olympics as the whole of Australia. As well as a cause for national celebration, that’s a problem. Because the truth is, we don’t know enough about why. Genius clusters. Renaissance Florence. Elizabethan London. The Scottish Enlightenment. Extraordinary individual achievements, sporting [...]
Co-op to break dominance of top tier banks July 19, 2012 MILLIONS of Lloyds customers are set to become Co-op clients under the deal announced yesterday, making the smaller bank a new “challenger” to the UK’s dominant big five. Under the deal, set to be finalised by Christmas, the Co-op will issue £350m of subordinated debt in the coming months as an initial payment for the [...]
Sky Movies is cleared in probe thanks to Lovefilm and Netflix May 23, 2012 SATELLITE broadcaster BSkyB no longer dominates the pay-TV movie market following the arrival of new entrants Lovefilm and Netflix, the competition watchdog said yesterday in a reversal of its initial findings. But the decision drew angry responses from Sky’s main rivals BT and Virgin, who said its Sky Movies channel reduces competition. Laura Carstensen, chairman of the [...]
FTSE edges down as UK borrowing rises July 20, 2012 Telecoms giant Vodafone pushed the FTSE 100 lower while UK government borrowing came in above estimates this morning. The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing excluding financial sector interventions rose last month to £14.4bn from £13.9bn in June 2011. On London’s blue chip index Vodafone fell 1.3 per cent after the [...]
UK’s CSR in £200m Samsung deal July 17, 2012 BRITISH microchip firm CSR has sold its mobile phone technology division to South Korean electronics giant Samsung for $310m (£198.2m). The Cambridge-based company said its Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS location technology – which features in Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones, as well as Apple’s iPhone and iPad – is cutting edge. But the firm decided to sell because it was [...]
Kelvin takes on Murdoch’s Sky sport channels May 7, 2012 KELVIN MacKenzie, the ex-editor of The Sun, will today march into battle against BSkyB, potentially going head to head with its majority owner and his former employer Rupert Murdoch. Sports Tonight, the TV channel founded by MacKenzie, will today challenge the exclusive broadcast agreement between BSkyB and the Football League by lodging a complaint with [...]
M&B expects to overcome tough conditions November 22, 2011 Restaurant and pub group Mitchells & Butlers has said it is confident it could overcome the tough consumer environment in 2012 after making a good start to its new financial year, helped by mild weather. The company, which rejected two bid approaches from billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis earlier this year, posted full-year adjusted pre-tax [...]
M&B expects to overcome tough conditions November 22, 2011 Restaurant and pub group Mitchells & Butlers has said it is confident it could overcome the tough consumer environment in 2012 after making a good start to its new financial year, helped by mild weather. The company, which rejected two bid approaches from billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis earlier this year, posted full-year adjusted pre-tax [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 3, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Facebook hit by glitches after email switch Facebook has been racing to deal with a series of technical glitches after making a controversial change to its members’ email settings that has been criticised as a way to promote its service at the expense of competitors. African minerals names new head Frank Timis plans [...]