Pret a Manger brushes off Jollibee takeover rumours | City A.M. September 19, 2017 Pret a Manger intends to push ahead with its plans for a possible float on the New York Stock Exchange despite speculation a multi-billion-dollar Filipino business is eyeing a takeover bid for the coffee and sandwich chain. City A.M. understands that Jollibee and Pret have not been in contact with each other on the potential [...]
McDonald’s gets final bids for super-size sell-off of restaurants to franchise partners in China and Hong Kong September 15, 2016 McDonald's has received final offers from at least three bidders for more than 2,000 of its restaurants in China and Hong Kong that have been put up for sale to franchise partners in a super-sized sell-off. Private equity outfit Carlyle Group has served up an offer with Chinese state group CITIC, while TPG Capital is working with local [...]
Will Apple take the Dow over 27,000 this week? Only a fool would bet against it January 30, 2018 How much higher, and how quickly, can Wall Street rise? It’s a question this column has asked a couple of times, but it’s one that bears repeating after the Dow Jones hit a new record close on Friday. Might we see the Dow break 27,000? Market sentiment suggests yes. Moreover, it suggests it could do [...]
Could a robot replace Jose Mourinho? The growing presence of artificial intelligence and machine learning in football December 19, 2017 If you pay attention to the countless academic studies devoted to the subject or the dire prophecies from Elon Musk or Stephen Hawking, an artificial intelligence (AI) age is rapidly approaching that promises to make most of our jobs redundant. A McKinsey and Company report published earlier this year estimated that more than half of [...]
Ashish Thakkar to leave the board of Atlas Mara, the African banking group he co-founded with Bob Diamond October 3, 2017 Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond is to be left as the sole founder on the board of African financial services group Atlas Mara, as it was announced today that co-founder Ashish Thakkar would be leaving. His departure from the board comes as a result of new shareholder Fairfax Africa, a Canada-based investment fund, wanting [...]
Southern rail: Transport secretary accuses Labour of stoking up unrest on the railways July 4, 2017 Transport secretary Chris Grayling has accused senior Labour figures of stirring up unrest at Southern rail and encouraging further industrial action on the beleaguered network. Speaking at a House of Commons debate yesterday to discuss the publication of a report into the train operator’s performance by Chris Gibb, a non-executive director at Network Rail, Grayling [...]
The Night Tube has topped expectations by boosting London’s economy by £171m in its first year | City A.M. August 18, 2017 London mayor Sadiq Khan has said economic and passenger numbers for the first year of Night Tube services have topped expectations, boosting the capital’s economy by £171m. The Night Tube began operation on the Central and Victoria Lines in August last year, before being rolled out onto the Jubilee Line in October, the Northern Line [...]
Great British Menu chef Adam Handling’s TripAdvisor meltdown, in which he calls customer an imbecile who should stick to McDonald’s August 30, 2016 Great British Menu contestant Adam Handling has branded a customer “the prime example of an imbecile” who should “stick in McDonalds”. The head chef at new restaurant The Frog was responding to a negative review on TripAdvisor, saying the online critic was “just stupid”, “lead[s] a very sad life”, and suggesting even McDonald's would be out [...]
Profit from Theresa May’s war on plastic February 27, 2018 Theresa May recently declared a “war on plastic” and businesses such as Costa Coffee, Wagamama, Pizza Express and Leon have said they will phase out the use of plastic straws. California is considering banning them completely. Frozen food retailer Iceland has also pledged to be free of plastic packaging in its own-brand products within five [...]
Sales of McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu could be on the slide as US same-store sales slip July 26, 2016 Shares in global fast food giant McDonald's have slipped by more than three per cent in the pre-market today as investors fear the all-day breakfast boost may coming to an end. McDonald's posted earnings of $1.25 per share on sales down by four per cent to $6.26bn (£4.7bn), falling short of a Thomson Reuters analyst poll that expected earnings of [...]