Recovery in advertising industry isn’t here yet January 14, 2010 MECOM, the European newspaper firm led by former Mirror executive David Montgomery, yesterday said that the decline in its advertising revenues had started to slow. Ad sales in November and December were down just eight per cent, a major improvement on the 18 per cent fall in revenues over the entire year, and on the [...]
M&B investors should tell Lewis to get serious January 13, 2010 THE row between Mitchells and Butlers’ largest shareholder Joe Lewis and the pub group’s management shows no sign of abating, making the firm’s stock hard to value. If Lewis wants to make a bid for the company, he’d probably have to offer around 340p, making the shares – which closed at 275.5p yesterday – look [...]
Cadbury tells Kraft it must up its offer January 12, 2010 CADBURY yesterday urged shareholders not to let US food group Kraft “steal your company,” and issued upbeat trading figures to back its case. The British chocolate maker, which has spent the last four months fighting off Kraft’s £10.8bn hostile cash and share bid, accused the US food giant of dramatically undervaluing the company. In a [...]
E-book readers, 3D TVs and tablet PCs compete to be top dog of 2010 January 10, 2010 HYPE and prototypes dominated the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. From the Ford car that lets you send Twitter messages while driving, to the scuba diving mask that can shoot high definition video at depths of 130 feet, the vast majority of products on display will not hit the mainstream. The [...]
Forget Microsoft, it’s all about Google vs Apple January 7, 2010 IN recent decades, the technology sector has been defined by a clash of titans. In the 1980s Microsoft took on Apple and ended up wiping the floor with it, a feat it repeated with IBM in the 1990s. But Bill Gates couldn’t make it a hat trick; when the firm tried to thwart Google in [...]
SARKOZY BOTTLES IT December 3, 2009 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy sparked a fresh diplomatic spat with London after he pulled out of a visit to Number 10 Downing Street yesterday. Sarkozy had been due to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown after a tumultuous week in which he crowed over the appointment of Frenchman Michel Barnier to the EU finance brief. French [...]
Sarkozy: EU is in charge of City of London December 1, 2009 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday gloated over the nomination of a French EU Internal Market Commissioner, saying it would help European economic ideals prevail over Britain’s current system. Hailing the appointment of Michel Barnier, a former agriculture minister in his government, Sarkozy blamed the Anglo-Saxon model for the global economic downturn and crowed: “Do you [...]
Tesco is serious about building a profitable telco November 26, 2009 It’s hard to think of two brands more different than Apple and Tesco. One is famed for its sleek gadgets, while the other piles high and sells cheap the kind of electronic goods that wouldn’t look out of place in a Latvian discount store. A Lodus television and a Technika DVD player might be cheap, [...]
Rory has the world at his feet November 16, 2009 ON THE GREENS WITH SAM TORRANCERORY MCILROY could enjoy his crowing glory in Dubai this Sunday, but whatever happens, 2009 will always go down as the year when a new golfing superstar was born. At 20, young Rory could become the second youngest European No1 behind Seve Ballesteros this week if he holds off rivals [...]
Men: soothe and protect your skin too November 9, 2009 ONCE the summer sun disappears, it’s easy for men to forget to take care of their skin. However, the winter can be just as problematic to a gent’s appearance as the sunnier months – the cold will dry out your skin and cause chapped lips, and overheating at home can make things even worse. And [...]