RAMSAY COOKS UP A PROFIT June 1, 2011 GORDON Ramsay shrugged off the acrimonious sacking of his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson last October to post an overall return to profit for his companies yesterday. Cost cuts and the sale of Boxwood Cafe pushed pre-tax profit at Gordon Ramsay Holdings to £2.05m in the year to August 2010, from £0.57m in 2009, although sales fell [...]
Ski Seefeld’s winter wonderland November 13, 2011 TO MY mind, downhill skiing is too much like hard work. Long journeys from the airport to reach the resorts; dawdling in queues to take lifts up to the slopes; expensive ski passes; complicated clothing; the constant risk of a nasty accident. I have always wanted to enjoy everything skiing has to offer without all [...]
Ski Seefeld’s winter wonderland November 13, 2011 TO MY mind, downhill skiing is too much like hard work. Long journeys from the airport to reach the resorts; dawdling in queues to take lifts up to the slopes; expensive ski passes; complicated clothing; the constant risk of a nasty accident. I have always wanted to enjoy everything skiing has to offer without all [...]
Fancy yourself as a top chef? Sign up to The Big City Cook May 25, 2011 WE’VE all been there – Sat in front of the television watching “Masterchef” frustrated, as yet another builder/housewife/Z-list celebrity turns out a deflated soufflé. Suddenly the thought pops in to our heads: “I could do better than that.” Well soon, the suffering could be over. September sees the launch of The Big City Cook, a [...]
An exclusive way to sample the simplest, best Gallic food May 25, 2011 AS dinner parties go, this one’s a bit different. Over to my left sits double Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi of Hibiscus, on the right is Joel Antunes of South Bank’s acclaimed Brasserie Joel and opposite him is Russell Norman, the rising star of London’s restaurant scene with his hugely popular “Venetian tapas” joints Polpo, Spuntino [...]
Hits and misses in US company results July 22, 2011 America’s biggest companies have delivered a mixed bag of earnings news, with a disappointing update by heavy equipment maker Caterpillar offset by forecast-beating news from GE, Schlumberger and McDonalds. Caterpillar, which updated the market after the bell last night, said its second-quarter profit was $1.02bn (£629m), 44 per cent higher than the same quarter in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BLACKSTONE STRIKES €700M DEAL TO BUY GERMANY’S JACK WOLFSKIN Blackstone has agreed to take over outdoor clothing company Jack Wolfskin in a €700m ($995m) deal that underlined the rapid transformation of the sector from local businesses to international brands. The US buy-out group will announce on Thursday that it will acquire the German [...]
Shaftesbury sees income growth on West End sites May 25, 2011 LONDON landlord Shaftesbury yesterday posted a first-half rise in underlying net asset value and said it was confident of maintaining outperformance in its income, dividend and capital growth. In the six months to 31 March, the company posted a 5.3 per cent rise in underlying net asset value (NAV) per share to 436p, partly on [...]
M&B shares fall after profit drop May 20, 2011 Pub and restaurant giant Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) shares fell more than 4.9 per cent as they reported a drop in half-year profits. Pre-tax profit for the 28 weeks to 9 April was at £43m, compared with £72m in 2010. Revenue was down by almost nine per cent to £946m, compared with last year. The [...]
MILLION EURO WIN FOR SILVER SPECULATOR June 20, 2011 SILVER is the stock of the moment – just ask the Slovakian kindergarten teacher who has become a euro millionaire by “transacting heavily” on the commodity to win a trading contest run by European brokerage house XTB. The 30-year-old teacher, known only by her trading name of “Rudinka”, surged ahead in the late stages of [...]