How England can beat South Africa November 25, 2010 THERE’S nothing more dangerous than the sight of a wounded Springbok. These guys just don’t abide losing. However, against Scotland last week they had the look of a side who were clutching their boarding passes ready to go home. England should be considered favourites and here’s how they can achieve a famous win. STAY STRONG [...]
Greene King toasts sales rise September 7, 2010 Greene King has seen an upturn in sales thanks to its pub grub. The brewer and pub operator saw sales lift by 4.4 per cent in the last 18 weeks. Like-for-like food sales rose 8.6 per cent. However sales of Greene King’s own beer, which includes IPA, dropped five per cent. Chief executive Rooney Anand [...]
BSkyB braces for crunch EU sports ruling October 3, 2010 BSKYB is braced for a high court hearing this week that could change the football rights landscape. A pub landlady has taken a case to the European Court of Justice claiming Sky is breaching European free-trade rules with the way it sells its commercial Sky Sports packages. Portsmouth-based Karen Murphy was fined after an enforcement [...]
The man who wants to get the SFO ready for business March 21, 2011 The country’s top fraudbuster Richard Alderman may be retiring next year but after arresting Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz he has very publicly taken on the fight of his life. Earlier this month, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), of which the 58-year-old Alderman is the director, briefly arrested and questioned the billionaire brothers along with seven [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS THE LOCAL PUB IN DANGER? March 31, 2010 ANDREW HARPER | AON CONSULTING “Fancy wine bars have put local pubs in danger, but the economic downturn is having a greater effect. High levels of taxation aren’t helping either.” JOHN YOUNG | MISHCON DE REYA “In my neck of the woods, I’ve definitely seen a lot of pubs closing. I think it’s partly because [...]
Compass finance boss set to join Enterprise Inns October 11, 2010 NEIL Smith, finance director at Compass Group, has been appointed as chief financial officer of Enterprise Inns. He is taking over from David George, who will step down from the post at the end of January after a 20-year stint in the role. He joined the pub group at its inception in 1991. Smith will [...]
FOCUS ON: BRENTWOOD, ESSEX October 14, 2010 CREST BASE Price: From £183,000 This new development in the heart of Brentwood has both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments for sale. The living area is open-plan and each flat also has a bathroom and a kitchen. Depending on the stage of construction, you can personalise various aspects of the internal finish. For commuters it is [...]
CSC clashes with investor over mall bid December 8, 2010 A ROW between Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) and one of its biggest shareholders boiled over yesterday over the property firm’s plan to buy the Trafford Centre. Simon Property Group, which owns five per cent of CSC, has slammed the bid and says it will rethink its plans to make an offer to buy the whole [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 16, 2010 Barclays Corporate Barclays Corporate has appointed a new head of financial institutions. Matt Tuck will return to the bank where he started his career, having worked for the last eight years for Deutsche Bank. In his new role, he will be responsible for enacting a new stage in the expansion of the bank’s financial institutions [...]
Enterprise Inns plans disposals September 12, 2010 Pub chain Enterprise Inns could raise up to £100m by selling groups of sites to institutional investors and leasing them back. The leisure company, which owns 7,000 locations across the UK, has until now been offloading individual pubs at auction. It has asked property adviser CB Richard Ellis to look at broadening the programme, it [...]