BAA to spend £50m to tackle snow March 24, 2011 Airports operator BAA said it would invest £50M in better winter defences after a report criticised its response to the snow-induced chaos at London’s Heathrow airport last year. An inquiry into BAA’s handling of last year’s big freeze, which closed runways in the week before Christmas, said BAA had to prove it can keep Heathrow [...]
NO PLAN B FOR BRITAIN SAY TORY BELIEVERS July 7, 2011 DON’T have a business card on you? No problem – just write your name on the back of a £50 note and drop that in the hat for the City lunchtime raffle instead. Yes, it could only be the annual fundraising gathering of The Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association, where the Tory body’s [...]
STRICTLY BUSINESS BRIEF ENDS VINCE CABLE’S DANCING DREAM June 28, 2011 THERE is something bothering business secretary Vince Cable – and it’s not the separation of retail and investment banking, the Greek debt crisis or even waging war on Rupert Murdoch. No – Cable is concerned his demanding day job could mean he never fulfils his dream of returning to Strictly Come Dancing for a full [...]
Wake up and smell the instant coffee March 24, 2011 CHRISTMAS?2010 will be remembered as Britain’s last big spending splurge. What better way to end almost two decades of unsustainable, debt-fuelled largesse than with a massive turkey dinner and tonnes of presents? Supermarkets could barely believe it as families spent more than ever before on rich food and booze; John Lewis notched up record sales. [...]
Halfords cuts profit guidance April 7, 2011 Halfords reduced its profit guidance for the second time in three months as underlying sales continued to fall in tough markets. The bicycles and car parts firm also announced a share buyback programme of up to £75m. Halfords forecast a year to April 1 pretax profit of between £124m and £127m, with group sales of [...]
AB Foods hit as costs take toll on profit April 27, 2011 PRIMARK owner AB Foods yesterday saw its shares tumble as it warned that its full-year profit would be dented by soaring costs. The company said it expected full-year profits to be similar to those last year, as it announced its half-year results. It had previously expected annual earnings to rise. Profit for the six months [...]
Labour market recovery boosts optimism on US March 30, 2011 AN ADP report yesterday showed that private employers added 201,000 jobs in March – slightly below consensus expectations for an increase of 208,000 jobs. Small and medium firm payroll growth remained strong in March, adding 102,000 and 82,000 jobs, while large firms added 17,000 jobs. “This indicates continued momentum in the pace of labour market [...]
M&S returns to France April 1, 2011 Marks and Spencer will return to France this year with stores in Paris and its first international website, it announced today. The new website will be in French and is set to trade in Euros. A new store will be opened in Champs-Elysees, central Paris, in the next few months and will sell both womenswear [...]
EU launches air passenger law overhaul April 11, 2011 THE EUROPEAN Union yesterday laid out plans to shake up airline passenger compensation laws, after carriers faced massive bills from the Icelandic ash cloud and snow storms. The EU will discuss wide-reaching changes with aviation stakeholders and present a new law in 2012, European Commission vice-president Siim Kallas said yesterday. The review of Regulation 261 [...]
Solid sales for United Utilities March 24, 2011 UNITED Utilities, the largest listed water utility, said trading in the second-half had been slightly ahead of its expectations, putting it on track for a solid underlying performance for the year. The company said regulated revenue had continued the positive trend from the first-half, but would be slightly lower in the second, reflecting seasonal changes. [...]