Giant laid to its rest October 26, 2005 With the rump of Marconi set to be rebranded as telent, Laurie Laird looks at what the future might hold in store for a once-great telecoms company brought to its knees in recent years From the mighty GEC, to Marconi, to Ericsson, to telent. It’s an ignominious end for a once-glorious company. After months of [...]
Killing the cure October 28, 2005 Some say British drugs companies should be able to profit in order to reinvest in newer drugs for the greater good. Some say their profits come on the back of scientific fraud. It is perhaps one of the great puzzles of British business. As a nation we spend less on medicines than our European neighbours, [...]
The Phone War October 25, 2005 Richard Branson and Charles Dunstone lead our troops into battle over mobile networks in France. Precisely 200 years after Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, a new Anglo-French battlefront has opened up, this one over mobile telephone networks. Sir Richard Branson is leading the troops in this latest skirmish. Yesterday, he announced a joint venture with Carphone [...]
Airport deal off October 26, 2005 A group controlled by Australia’s Macquarie Bank has walked away from a deal to buy Exeter Airport complaining about the length of the process after the deal was referred to the Competition Commission. The deal collapsed after Macquarie, which formed half of the South West Airports consortium, said that a Commission investigation into the purchase [...]
Advisers in all night Refco talks October 17, 2005 Refco held a second day of weekend meetings yesterday as a group of about 50 advisers gathered in New York in an effort to salvage the disgraced group’s regulated futures brokerage arm and determine the fate of its ailing operations. The advisers had begun emergency meetings on Saturday that stretched late into the night to [...]