Desmond may bid for Five July 11, 2010 EXPRESS Newspaper owner Richard Desmond has emerged as an unlikely frontrunner in the battle to buy Channel Five. The owner of adult channel Television X has made no secret of his desire to expand his media empire but this is the first time he has been linked to the struggling terrestrial broadcaster. It is understood [...]
Johnson hails axed captain Borthwick July 1, 2010 ENGLAND manager Martin Johnson admits dropping long-standing captain Steve Borthwick from his 32-man elite squad has been the hardest decision of his coaching career. Johnson installed Borthwick as skipper upon taking over in 2008 and stuck by him for two years, despite vociferous criticism of the Saracens lock’s international performances. But Borthwick’s injury in March [...]
M&B row with rebel reaches fever pitch.. January 24, 2010 BOSSES of All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers are steeling themselves for a showdown with rebel shareholder Piedmont at its annual meeting on Thursday. The company is facing a bid by Piedmont, which owns 23 per cent of the business, to install four independent directors on the board. Piedmont is understood to want M&B [...]
THREE TOP-RATED US EQUITY FUNDS August 3, 2010 NEPTUNE US OPPORTUNITIES FUND Launched on 31 December 2002, Neptune’s US Opportunities fund has been managed by Felix Wintle since August 2005. Although it has underperformed the S&P 500 over the past year due to manager caution – 14.99 per cent compared to 25.96 per cent for the wider market – it has enjoyed robust [...]
How to live the Polynesian dream October 3, 2010 IT’S a hot and humid afternoon in Nadi on the Fijian mainland as we squash into the rather intimate 14-seater plane that is to deliver us to Taveuni in the north-east of the archipelago. Known as Fiji’s Garden Island for its pristine tropical rainforests and ridiculously beautiful beaches, Taveuni is to be the starting point [...]
M&B chair could be ousted at crunch annual meeting January 27, 2010 THE power struggle at Mitchells & Butlers will come to a head later this morning when a bitter annual meeting kicks off. More than 400 investors will gather to decide on new board members in a vote that has been shrouded in controversy. A feud has festered between the board of the pub chain, which [...]
BSkyB wins £200m case against EDS January 26, 2010 RUPERT Murdoch’s satellite broadcaster BSkyB has won a five-year legal wrangle with Electronic Data Systems over an ill-fated IT project. In a decision that could see EDS forced to pay out more than £200m, a judge said EDS lied to Sky to secure a contract to work on the company’s overhaul of its customer service [...]
Lewis gets his way at M&B as Laffin goes January 28, 2010 THE scene was set for a venomous Mitchells and Butlers board meeting yesterday – and the key players did not deviate from the script. Simon Laffin, the chairman, knew his time at the helm of the pub chain was up. Sympathetic cheers from the swathes of minority shareholders packed into the ICC Birmingham would have [...]
M&B rejects olive branch from Joe Lewis January 25, 2010 MITCHELLS & Butlers (M&B), the pub group that owns All Bar One, yesterday said it was rejecting a last-minute olive branch from currency trader Joe Lewis, its largest shareholder, over the make-up of the firm’s board. The move sets the scene for a dramatic showdown at the group’s annual meeting on Thursday. Current chairman Simon [...]
COMPANY OF THE YEAR | The Shortlist September 12, 2010 IT has been another tough year for business. The sovereign debt crisis rocked already shaky market confidence, while uncertainty has kept consumers from splashing out. It is in hard times that reputations are made, though, and over the past year the best have bounced back. Both retailers on our list have, in their different ways, [...]