CITY CURRY LOVERS EMPTY THEIR POCKETS FOR UK WAR VETERANS May 14, 2009 NOSHING down on a good curry is one of the best ways to relieve City stress (just ask chancellor Alistair Darling, who famously thrashed out the details of his mammoth £500bn bank bailout plan over an Indian takeaway back in October). So it should come as no surprise that Lord Mayor Ian Luder decided to [...]
Meet the oil man who is toughing out the harsh new era of low prices May 31, 2009 THE CHIEF executive of oil services business Wood Group Allister Langlands is in remarkably relaxed mood for a man who has seen oil plummet from $147 (£91) a barrel last July to around $65 currently, with all the mothballing of lucrative new projects a slump like that brings. The Aberdeen-based firm may have posted an [...]
Meet the oil man who is toughing out the harsh new era of low prices May 31, 2009 THE CHIEF executive of oil services business Wood Group Allister Langlands is in remarkably relaxed mood for a man who has seen oil plummet from $147 (£91) a barrel last July to around $65 currently, with all the mothballing of lucrative new projects a slump like that brings. The Aberdeen-based firm may have posted an [...]
Hot Chi Minh July 28, 2008 Foreign investment means tourism is coming to Vietnam’s capital, says Ben Griffiths Intoxicating Ho Chi Minh is the best place to experience the myriad changes taking place in Vietnam, a country on the fast-track to becoming one of the hottest spots in Asia. The downtown area encapsulates all the sights and sounds of Asia juxtaposed [...]
UBS rings the changes as it reports a loss August 13, 2008 UBS announced wholesale changes to structure and personnel yesterday, including a new chief financial officer, as it posted an interim loss of Sfr358m (£173m), bringing the curtain down on a dire results season for banks. The Swiss bank posted writedowns of $5.1bn on risky investments, mitigated by a tax credit of $2.8bn. It also took [...]
Bodies of millionaire and wife are found September 1, 2008 Police investigating a fire at the home of millionaire businessman Christopher Foster have announced they are now treating it as a murder inquiry, following confirmation that the two bodies found there are those of Foster, 50, and his wife. A post-mortem examination has revealed that Jillian Foster, 49, from Osbaston House in Maesbrook, Shropshire, died [...]
Hays profits up but tough times ahead September 3, 2008 UK recruitment firm Hays posted a 25 per cent increase in annual profits yesterday on the back of international growth, but warned that the market would get tougher this year. The company reported pre-tax profits for the year ending 30 June of £264.4m, up from £211.7m, as it enjoyed a 19 per cent rise in [...]
Fake Facebook entry banned July 25, 2008 A business whose personal details were falsely entered on Facebook, the social networking website, has won substantial libel damages at the High Court. Mathew Firsht won £22,000 in damages against an old school friend, Grant Raphael, who created the false entries. The judge ruled that Raphael’s defence – that the entry was created by people [...]
Sage expects to deflect the credit crunch August 5, 2008 Business software maker Sage yesterday said that its second quarter profits were up by 12 per cent, fuelling hopes that it will hold strong in the face of challenging market conditions. Despite increased competition in the small to medium enterprise (SME) market, the company continued to grow ahead of market expectations, posting an increase of [...]
Credit Suisse swings back into the black July 25, 2008 Swiss bank Credit Suisse has returned to profit in its second quarter, thanks largely to its private banking arm. The group outstripped analysts’ predictions, recording profits of Sfr 1.2bn (£560m) in the three months to 30 June, reversing losses made in the first quarter. The figures showed a 62 per cent fall in profits year-on-year, [...]