Aurum back in profit after restructuring May 23, 2010 LUXURY jeweller Aurum Holdings announced earnings of £10.5m yesterday, a jump of 27 per cent, after refinancing last November. The parent company of Goldsmiths, Watches of Switzerland and Mappin & Webb made a post-tax profit of £0.1m in the year to January 2010, against a loss of £19.4m the previous year. While overall sales were [...]
Farepak to pay customers back April 25, 2010 FAREPAK customers who lost money when the Christmas savings group went into administration will now receive 15p for every pound they lost. The group’s directors have agreed to pay up £4m from their own pockets in compensation to the 150,000 customers who subscribed to their savings scheme. The number marks a small portion of the [...]
The airline boss with a hit list of 12 bid targets in his desk drawer September 13, 2010 It is clear that British Airways (BA) chief executive Willie Walsh always likes to keep his foot hard on the pedal. The Dublin-born airline boss is in the middle of a bitter 18-month dispute with his cabin crew, and only a few weeks ago received US and European regulatory clearance to pursue a transatlantic tie-up [...]
The airline boss with a hit list of 12 bid targets in his desk drawer September 13, 2010 It is clear that British Airways (BA) chief executive Willie Walsh always likes to keep his foot hard on the pedal. The Dublin-born airline boss is in the middle of a bitter 18-month dispute with his cabin crew, and only a few weeks ago received US and European regulatory clearance to pursue a transatlantic tie-up [...]
Pressure from the bottom line will make firms female-friendly July 20, 2010 A COUPLE of weeks ago I was told a story about a law firm Christmas party. The senior partners took part in a game where pictures of their children were projected onto a screen, and they were asked to identify the cute faces. Presumably this was meant to show them to be rounded human beings, [...]
Beatty wins £95m BSF contract April 13, 2010 Balfour Beatty has beaten rival Kier Group to the £95m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) contract in Hartlepool. The infrastructure group said it had been awarded the contract by Hartlepool borough council to rebuild and replace six schools over the next five years. The first school construction project begins this summer and finishes in [...]
Gulf efforts faced with more delays June 2, 2010 BP’S RESPONSE team faced further delays yesterday as the latest attempt to plug a well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico were met with a snag. An underwater saw used to sever a pipe from the damaged blow out preventer currently sitting on the seabed became lodged in the pipe, creating further disruption to [...]
Jobs well done as 2m iPADS sold May 31, 2010 APPLE’S iPad sales continued their extraordinary pace yesterday when the firm announced it had shifted more than 2m units. The tablet device, which became available in the UK on Friday, has smashed all predictions, becoming an instant hit that has dwarfed even the sales of the landmark iPod and iPhone. The iPod sold just 125,000 [...]
Jobs well done as 2m iPADS sold May 31, 2010 APPLE’S iPad sales continued their extraordinary pace yesterday when the firm announced it had shifted more than 2m units. The tablet device, which became available in the UK on Friday, has smashed all predictions, becoming an instant hit that has dwarfed even the sales of the landmark iPod and iPhone. The iPod sold just 125,000 [...]
GOLDMAN’S KAFKA OFF TO GREENER PASTURES July 13, 2010 IT’S out of the revolving door for one of Goldman’s chief spinmeisters, Paul Kafka, who’s off to pastures new at rival UBS. I hear Kafka is now on gardening leave after almost four years as Goldman’s European head of corporate comms. He’ll be stepping up to the plate at UBS later in the year, as [...]