JD Wetherspoon shares lift on investors’ dividend hopes November 4, 2009 JD Wetherspoon’S shares climbed yesterday after the pubs group said it expects to complete a refinancing of its debt by March next year, raising hopes it will resume dividend payments and overshadowing a slowing in the rate of its sales growth. The group’s shares lifted by almost three per cent to 477.7p by the close. [...]
Capital Pub Company shrugs off the gloom as sales lift in London boozers June 30, 2009 CAPITAL Pub Company, which runs a chain of non-branded pubs in London, yesterday provided a glimmer of hope for the pubs sector by reporting a seven per cent lift in pre-tax profits to £2.1m. The group, which owns a portfolio including the Anglesea Arms in South Kensington and The Marquis of Granby on Shaftesbury Avenue, [...]
Capital Pub Company shrugs off the gloom as sales lift in London boozers June 30, 2009 CAPITAL Pub Company, which runs a chain of non-branded pubs in London, yesterday provided a glimmer of hope for the pubs sector by reporting a seven per cent lift in pre-tax profits to £2.1m. The group, which owns a portfolio including the Anglesea Arms in South Kensington and The Marquis of Granby on Shaftesbury Avenue, [...]
Greene King swoops on 11 Punch pubs June 9, 2009 EMBATTLED pub group Punch Taverns yesterday disposed of 11 pubs in a £30m deal with rival firm Greene King. The acquisition comes after Greene King raised £207m from shareholders to take advantage of cut-price assets in the pub sector. The 11 pubs generated earnings before interest and tax of £3.55m in the year to end [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS January 11, 2010 THE CIRCUS COMES TO COVENT GARDEN In the midst of all this frozen gloom, Covent Garden’s newest restaurant and bar – opening tonight – might be just the thing to inject some warmth and colour. Circus, on Endell Street just by Seven Dials, is a Surrealism-inspired slice of funky showmanship from renowned designer Tom Dixon [...]
Pubcos cheer OFT decision October 22, 2009 Beer campaigners have failed in a bid to force leased pub operators to allow their landlords to buy beer supplies from rivals, boosting shares in the sector. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has rejected a complaint from the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), which claimed that tied arrangements forcing pub tenants to buy solely [...]
For babymooners, Brown’s is best April 18, 2010 WHEN I told people that my wife was expecting our first child, a lot of the men who already have kids did this laugh, a sort of bark that seemed to be at once ironic, sardonic and to suggest “you poor, poor fool, you don’t know what you are letting yourself into. No, really, you [...]
A LESSON IN THE PERILS OF PAYING BY PLASTIC January 26, 2010 LET this be a lesson to all those out there who imagine that the good old days of decadence are gone for good. I hear a bit of a surprise was in store on a recent holiday to Miami for Michael Parnes – the founder of Old Park Lane Capital, the Mayfair-based ultra high net [...]
The biker driving ideas in the City February 4, 2010 AFTER spending 10 years talking about the idea of starting his own economic consultancy in the pub with friends and colleagues, Danny Gabay decided to take the plunge. After a road trip around the US in a jeep (he’s also a keen biker), Fathom Consulting, an independent economic and financial market consultancy, was born. Gabay [...]
Lloyds left 1.3bn out of pocket from Kenmore demise and Admiral swap November 15, 2009 Kenmore Property Group, which collapsed into administration last week, owes more than £700m to Lloyds Banking Group. Kenmore, which controlled £1.8bn of assets, was put into administration last Thursday by Grant Thornton, after becoming incapable of meeting any of its existing business obligations as a result of falling home sales. Owned by one of Scotland’s [...]