Burger King plans to go public again April 4, 2012 Hamburger chain Burger King said it plans go public through a deal with a London-listed investment firm, less than two years after it agreed to be taken private by private equity group 3G Capital Management. The quick sale highlights a profit improvement at Burger King’ Worldwide Holdings Inc, which operates more than 12,000 mainly franchise [...]
The subprime mortgage crisis isn’t over – UK taxpayers remain liable June 7, 2012 THE subprime mortgage crisis isn’t over. On the back of misguided government policies, taxpayers in the US and UK remain on the hook for huge sums. The ideology of affordable housing must end. It took just 13 years to destroy the American mortgage market with devastating effects for the rest of the world. The process began [...]
UK restaurant sector to strike £13bn by 2015 April 29, 2012 WHILE Britons continue to tighten their belts in hard economic times, one luxury that few of us seem to be prepared to give up is eating out. A new report by Allegra Strategies and Barclays forecasts that sales across the UK’s branded restaurants are set to grow by 22 per cent to £13.6bn by 2015 [...]
Facebook brand image survives embarrassing float May 22, 2012 FACEBOOK, the world’s largest social networking site, has made headlines with its IPO, which has since turned sour. Earlier this month, founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would be leading a roadshow for Facebook in order to arouse interest on its soon-to-be available shares. On 18 May, the day of the IPO launch, Facebook began [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 20, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Banks to get cheap money to lift UK lending The government’s new “funding for lending” programme, designed to boost credit for British business, will cut banks’ costs to as little as 1.2 per cent, according to people briefed on the scheme. The supply of such cheap money to the banks is supposed to [...]
Wall Street should hold off on the champagne for now April 16, 2012 ON first glance, it’s rather hard to find the good news among all the negative numbers in Citigroup’s latest batch of figures. Headline profits and revenues fell slightly and yet the bank’s share price rose 1.8 per cent yesterday, adding around $1.8bn to its value. The rise is a sign that markets think that normality [...]
P&G set to cut 5,700 positions February 23, 2012 PROCTER & Gamble plans to cut about 5,700 non-manufacturing jobs as part of a new plan to reduce costs by $10bn by the end of fiscal 2016, chief executive Bob McDonald said yesterday. The world’s largest household products company has about 57,000 non-manufacturing employees among its total workforce of about 129,000. P&G also trimmed earnings [...]
Fed’s caution hits Wall Street April 4, 2012 US stocks fell for a second day yesterday as investors contemplated a world without monetary stimulus and a poorly received bond auction in Spain suggested the effects of Europe’s funding operations were waning. Selling was broad as indexes tracking nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors ended lower, with financial, materials and technology shares the [...]
Former Blair adviser sells his PR agency April 12, 2012 TIM Allan, the former spin doctor for BSkyB who started his professional career as a press adviser to Tony Blair, has agreed to sell a majority stake in his public relations firm Portland to the global marketing group Omnicom. The deal values Portland at around £20m (depending on the group’s performance over the next three [...]
The rigour and discipline of classics foster the skills for success in business and life March 4, 2012 WHEN education ministers talk about the skills that business needs, their main focus usually seems to be vocational, especially the so-called Stem subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Obviously, these are absolutely crucial, but the implication is that non-vocational subjects do not count. But all businesses need people with different skills to manage, develop, finance [...]