UK technology darling’s rocky road to HP deal November 20, 2012 WHEN Autonomy was sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11bn (£6.9bn) in October 2011, the deal was hailed as a defining moment for Cambridge’s technology scene and chief Mike Lynch was made a poster boy for British entrepreneurship. But seven months later, Lynch was out of HP, fired by the US giant’s new boss Meg Whitman. [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS April 27, 2011 WITHOUT A WILL IN THE WORLD More than half (51 per cent) of British adults don’t have a will drawn up, according to research by Standard Life. The research conducted by the long-term savings and investment company reveals that these figures become even more worrying when broken down by age. Nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) [...]
JJB Sports mulls raft of ideas to save firm August 5, 2012 BOARD members at crisis-struck sports retailer JJB Sports are mulling dozens of different financing options to save the battered firm from further losses, it was revealed yesterday. The Wigan-based company, which jettisoned its chief executive Keith Jones and parachuted in former La Senza boss Beverley Williams last month, is exploring “20 to 30” ideas to [...]
City of London School raises £64k for Great Ormond Street September 26, 2012 GREAT Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity was yesterday the worthy recipient of a £64,000 cheque from the City of London School. While the pupils from the school are no strangers to fundraising, this is the largest amount they have ever raised for any charity. And it wasn’t won easily. One challenge was a staggering 48-hour [...]
Economists reject OECD’s gloomy GDP predictions March 29, 2012 THE UK is now in recession with January to March set to mark a second quarter of economic contraction for the UK, the influential OECD group predicted yesterday, as a survey out today revealed consumer confidence fell again in March. However other economists cast doubt on the OECD’s gloomy claim, pointing to healthy business survey [...]
What the other papers say this morning September 18, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Noble Foods hit by eggs surplus Noble Foods, Britain’s largest egg producer by volume, reported a 22 per cent slide in pre-tax profits last year, providing further evidence of the squeeze on the egg industry. BP in talks to sell off refinery BP has held talks to sell its Texas City refinery to [...]
Bad numeracy is a black mark for British prospects April 9, 2012 LAST month saw the launch of a small charity with a big ambition – to improve the state of numeracy in the UK. National Numeracy aims to draw attention to a problem known about for decades but which, despite periodic hand-wringing, we’ve not yet fixed. Nearly 17m people in England – almost half the working-age [...]
RBS confirms Direct Line float September 14, 2012 RBS this morning confirmed plans to float its Direct Line insurance business on the London Stock Exchange in the largest share listing this year. RBS, which is 83 per cent-owned by the government, had to either sell or float the business by next year as a condition of its bailout in 2008. “We believe it [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS April 20, 2011 BURGLARS TO CASH IN ON WEDDING While the UK celebrates the royal wedding, AXA, the home insurers, predict a potentially huge surge in burglaries and accidental damage insurance claims. AXA’s research predicts that over four in ten of us will be away from our homes for the royal wedding while a further 21 per cent [...]
Most workers unaware of automatic pensions September 9, 2012 MILLIONS of British workers do not realise they are about to be automatically enrolled into pension schemes, according to a Scottish Widows study out today. Within the next month staff at the largest UK firms will be automatically put into a pension scheme, unless they opt out – yet 52 per cent of workers, or [...]