WHAT’S AVAILABLE? BEST RATES May 14, 2009 First Direct offers a two-year fix of 2.99 per cent with a subsequent rate of 3.69 per cent (all rates are based on a 75 per cent, £150,000 mortgage). The fee is £898. Royal Bank of Scotland has a three-year fix of 3.99 per cent, rising to 4 per cent afterwards, with a £499 fee. [...]
C&C quenches its thirst with a cider acquisition spree November 30, 2009 IRISH drinks group C&C yesterday said it had acquired the UK cider assets of Constellation Brands – including Blackthorn, Olde English and Gaymer – for £45m in cash. C&C chief executive John Dunsmore said the price of the assets was “highly attractive”, while analysts said the deal handed the company a third of the UK [...]
Ex-Vodafone boss paid to return home June 2, 2009 VODAFONE’S former chief executive Arun Sarin was paid £500,000 to return to his native US when he left the company, according to the company’s annual report. In total, the former boss – who left Vodafone in July 2008 but remained as a consultant until February – picked up a payout of £8.1m in his final [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 25, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES TOYOTA WANTS MORE NIMBLE FIRMAkio Toyoda, the new chief executive of Toyota Motor, yesterday pledged to bring a looser, more nimble management style to the carmaker, which is facing its biggest crisis since Sakichi Toyoda – his grandfather and Toyota’s founder – ran the company six decades ago. Mr Toyoda promised “to do [...]
ADDICTS, INCEST AND ORGIES: HOW THE STOCK EXCHANGE DOES DRAMA May 26, 2009 EXTRA-curricular activities (of the character-building, not reputation-trashing, sort) have become rather popular in the City since improving one’s CV became more of a necessity than an idle pastime. And in that spirit, keen Square Mile theatregoers will be happy to learn that SEDOS – the Stock Exchange Dramatic and Operatic Society – have been hard [...]
ADDICTS, INCEST AND ORGIES: HOW THE STOCK EXCHANGE DOES DRAMA May 26, 2009 EXTRA-curricular activities (of the character-building, not reputation-trashing, sort) have become rather popular in the City since improving one’s CV became more of a necessity than an idle pastime. And in that spirit, keen Square Mile theatregoers will be happy to learn that SEDOS – the Stock Exchange Dramatic and Operatic Society – have been hard [...]
Yell chair to go over Goodwin pension row May 20, 2009 YELL chairman Bob Scott – who as a Royal Bank of Scotland director rubber-stamped Sir Fred Goodwin’s £17m pension – said yesterday that he will not stand for re-election to the directory publisher’s board. Scott, who had been chairman of the Yellow Pages publisher since June 2002, bowed out after shareholders expressed their concern over [...]
BarCap hires fierce critic May 19, 2009 BARCLAYS Capital (BarCap) is to hire a trio of Citigroup analysts, including one with a record of issuing notoriously bearish notes on the investment bank’s parent company, as it marches on with its hiring spree. Tom Rayner, a banking analyst with Citigroup, will join BarCap’s European equity research team, in a move that will raise [...]
The champagne days are over as firms cut costs July 21, 2009 ONE OF THE less visible casualties of the credit crunch has been the corporate and press hospitality industry. Legal journalists wistfully recall the days, now gone, in which they were magically whisked away by a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars to take first class transatlantic flights to check out Linklaters’ New York office or when they [...]
The champagne days are over as firms cut costs July 21, 2009 ONE OF THE less visible casualties of the credit crunch has been the corporate and press hospitality industry. Legal journalists wistfully recall the days, now gone, in which they were magically whisked away by a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars to take first class transatlantic flights to check out Linklaters’ New York office or when they [...]