Tea total: a new brew sensation March 23, 2011 WHAT do the credit crunch, European leveraged capital markets and looseleaf tea have in common? The answer is Ajit Madan, who left his job at Societe Generale when the credit crunch rendered his slice of the pie a mere shadow of its former self, to follow his entrepreneurial dreams. “It was a part of the [...]
Tea total: a new brew sensation March 23, 2011 WHAT do the credit crunch, European leveraged capital markets and looseleaf tea have in common? The answer is Ajit Madan, who left his job at Societe Generale when the credit crunch rendered his slice of the pie a mere shadow of its former self, to follow his entrepreneurial dreams. “It was a part of the [...]
News Corp could bring legal action against Cable December 21, 2010 NEWS Corp was last night taking legal advice on whether to challenge Vince Cable’s decision to refer its bid for BSkyB to the media watchdog. Cable asked Ofcom to examine the deal on the grounds of public interest on 4 November – less than 24 hours after News Corp notified the European Commission of its [...]
COMPANY PROFILE February 3, 2011 PACE, which has been quietly building set top boxes for pay-TV firms for almost 30 years, is now the biggest player in its field. Having been around to experience the explosion in satellite TV in the late 1980s, it probably thought its high-growth days were behind it. It couldn’t have been more wrong: in 2009, [...]
M&B sales hit by World Cup July 22, 2010 PUBS and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers said yesterday sales growth slowed in June and July as diners were lured away by the attraction of the World Cup. M&B, which has over 2,000 pubs and restaurants and whose brands include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, said the World Cup had a “negative impact” [...]
Shock GDP contraction pulls FTSE and sterling downward January 25, 2011 RETAILERS were hit as Britain’s top share index fell yesterday after a shock 0.5-per cent contraction in UK GDP in the last three months of 2010. The FTSE 100 closed was down 26.14 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,917.71, having risen 0.8 per cent on Monday. Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed [...]
DMGT set for higher profit November 22, 2010 DAILY MAIL and General Trust is expected to unveil a hike in full-year profits when it announces preliminary results on Thursday, thanks to a recovery in advertising revenues and strong trading at its business-to-business (b2b) division. Analysts at Numis expect the firm to book pre-tax profits up 23 per cent at £245m for 2009-10, compared [...]
Advisers line up for the biggest deal in town February 14, 2011 WHEN you’re trying to build up a franchise in mergers and acquisitions, there’s nothing better than being signed up to work on one of the biggest deals in town. So naturally Barclays Capital and RBC Capital Markets were as pleased as punch to be advising the London Stock Exchange on its £4.3bn merger with Canada’s [...]
M&B close to £40m strike June 27, 2010 Pub giant Mitchells & Butlers is on the verge of selling its ten-pin bowling chain for up to £40m. The pub group, which is led by chief executive Adam Fowle, has been in talks in recent weeks over the sale of its Hollywood Bowl division, which has 24 centres from Glasgow to Somerset. Privately-owned AMF [...]
John Lewis in sharp sales rise January 21, 2011 Sales growth at department store chain John Lewis slowed dramatically last week as consumers tightened their belts after spending freely in the post-Christmas sales. The employee-owned retailer, which also runs upmarket grocery chain Waitrose, said on Friday department store sales increased 4.1 per cent to £55.8m in the week to January 15. Sales in the [...]