FTSE lifted by banks and commodities as investor fears over Eurozone recede May 18, 2010 BANKS and commodity-linked stocks pushed Britain’s top share index higher yesterday, with risk appetite returning among investors as Eurozone debt fears ebbed, and Man Group recouping the previous session’s losses. The FTSE 100 ended up 44.80 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5,307.34, but after retreating from an earlier session high of 5,341.41. “Any move [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS April 26, 2010 SUNDAY LUNCH AT BOCCA DI LUPO Forget pub lunch on a Sunday. Head to Soho for Bocca di Lupo’s new “pasta al forno” menu, featuring authentic baked pasta dishes. Think lasagne bolognese, melanzane Parmigiana, pasta con lumache (pasta baked with snails and pecorino), scamorza and pesto lasagne and bavette with spider crab (baked together in [...]
Successor has huge in-tray March 30, 2010 OUTGOING Punch boss Giles Thorley deserves some praise for his stewardship of the pubs firm through the recession. He was quick to cut the group’s dividend and ruthlessly disposed of underperforming sites, even when they had symbolic importance. The recent share placing was also a broad success. But there is no getting away from it: [...]
World cup win would lift the UK economy March 28, 2010 A World Cup win for England could spark a spending spree and lift the country out of the downturn, according to a latest survey by PWC. Unsurprisingly, 25 per cent of men said a victory in South Africa would give the economy a boost but only 13 per cent of women agreed, out of 2000 [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 25, 2010 L’OREAL Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) has maintained a “hold” stance on L’Oreal as it says the beauty group’s current valuation continues to discount a broad return-to-growth scenario from this year and in its opinion, leaving limited room for expansion. S&P has raised its 12-month target price for L’Oreal to €85 (£74). CREDIT SUISSE [...]
Punch to cut value of pubs as profits fall October 11, 2009 PUBS group Punch Taverns is expected to slash the value of its estate by more than £600m as it unveils a 40 per cent dive in annual profits on Wednesday. The struggling pub group is heavily weighed down by its portfolio of 8,300 pubs, which have suffered a sharp fall in value during the property [...]
MODELLING LEAVES METRO BOSS RED-FACED April 5, 2010 MOST of the management over at shiny-new high street lender Metro Bank might be patting themselves on the back over their latest marketing ruse, a giant mascot for the bank, but some of the poor staffers have been left red-faced. The new mascot – an enormous foamy “M” in blue and red, the bank’s colours [...]
CITY LOSES TO OCTOPUS IN FOOTY FORECASTS July 12, 2010 OH, HOW they chortled in the City yesterday at comparisons between the world’s most famous cephalopod and those investment banks who dared to put out predictions on the outcome of the World Cup. Paul the psychic octopus, they sniggered, had managed to get EVERY SINGLE ONE of his predictions correct, beating statistical odds of 1/256. [...]
Whitbread boosted by Premier Inn chain April 29, 2010 Britain’s biggest hotel operator Whitbread reported a rise in full-year pre-tax profit as its Premier Inn hotel chain attracted holidaymakers by offering rooms for as little as £29 a night. Whitbread, which also owns Costa Coffee and the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurant chains, introduced new pricing initiatives to lure leisure customers to Premier [...]
JD Wetherspoon restores dividend after record profit March 11, 2010 PUB chain Wetherspoon today announced the end of a year-long dividend freeze after successfully completing its debt refinancing. Shareholders will receive a 12p dividend on 1 April for the year to July 2009 with a further special dividend of 7p a share. Last year it scrapped its dividend payment as negotiated its refinancing. It has [...]