Hunger for profits takes a bite from Chiquito owner’s shares January 9, 2013 THE FTSE 100 is at a four-year high, but you’d still have been better off plumping for mid-range dining rather than blue chip heavyweights over the last six months. The index hasn’t even managed a 10 per cent increase since mid-July, but the Restaurant Group’s shares have risen some 30 per cent over the same [...]
Tennis ace Murray buys a hotel in plan to repay his home town February 25, 2013 BRITAIN’S No1 tennis player Andy Murray has splashed out £1.8m to acquire a hotel in Dunblane, the planned development of which he hopes will provide a major boost to the economy in his home town. The Cromlix House Hotel, where his brother Jamie married wife Alejandra Gutierrez in 2010, is a Victorian Mansion, which Murray [...]
Greene King enjoys record Christmas trading January 14, 2013 Pub group Greene King hailed a strong festive period this morning, as it posted record sales through Christmas and the New Year. Over the past six weeks, like for like sales growth came in at 2.8 per cent, and Greene King said it enjoyed record Christmas Day sales of £2.7m, up 6.8 per cent year [...]
Developer of BBC Television Centre sets out masterplan February 5, 2013 THE BBC Television Centre in White City is to be opened up to the public for the first time, under its new guise as a site for hotels, flats and offices. Developers unveiled plans yesterday to turn the landmark building into a mixed-use scheme including 1,000 new homes, a hotel and offices as well as [...]
STK does a belter of a rib eye – if you can stand the club atmosphere February 6, 2013 Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie once said: “All vowels are fascist, man, everyone knows that”. It’s a sentiment that obviously chimed with the owners of US steakhouse chain STK, which has just arrived at the ME London hotel. This isn’t just any old steakhouse, though. Oh no, this is a “female friendly” steakhouse. Female friendly. [...]
Shoreditch set for £75m facelift January 10, 2013 PLANS were submitted this week to regenerate a site in London’s East End that has lain derelict for more than 30 years into a new £75m commercial hub. The proposed scheme, known as Shoreditch Village, will create 150,000 square feet of commercial-led space, including a 180-bed hotel, 20,000 sq ft of offices, 42,000 sq ft [...]
Record revenues for Channel Tunnel as freight delivers gains January 23, 2013 EUROTUNNEL hopes that Britons will continue to use the Channel Tunnel while the UK reassesses its relationship with the Continent, after the firm posted record revenues for 2012. “I would recommend that Great Britain remains in Europe,” said chief executive Jacques Gounon, who thinks the vast majority of his customers support Britain’s place in the [...]
Cinven gears up for £1bn float of annuity outfit February 17, 2013 CINVEN, the private equity business, is firming up plans for a £1bn float of its annuity business Partnership amid a renaissance in London’s capital markets. The mid-market buyout shop, which also owns PizzaExpress and ASK Italian restaurants, is understood to be pushing for an initial public offering (IPO) of Partnership in the second half of [...]
Italian deadlock weighs on FTSE February 26, 2013 The leading share index sank this morning as Italy voted for a hung parliament, which spooked stock markets. Italy faced political deadlock after a protest vote left no party or no likely coalition with enough seats to form a majority. In early trading, the FTSE 100 was down almost 1.3 per cent, with financial shares [...]
Burgers to fuel appetite for M&A activity December 9, 2012 A RESURGENCE in posh burger joints and quality fast food is set to fuel M&A activity in the restaurant sector this year, according to new research published today by accountants BDO. The firm’s annual restaurant and bars report says that while deal volumes remain low compared with the halcyon days of the early 2000s, it [...]