Miners lend muscle to FTSE as banks shake off US blues January 18, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index took on 0.7 per cent yesterday, as heavyweight mining issues rallied with firmer metal prices, while banks moved higher awaiting further earnings news from US peers. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 39.02 points higher at 5,494.39, albeit in subdued trade with US markets closed for Martin Luther King [...]
Vince Cable wades into row over boardroom stand-off at M&B January 17, 2010 LIBERAL Democrat Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable yesterday stepped into the shareholder row at pubs group Mitchells & Butlers by writing to the financial services watchdog voicing his concerns. The Takeover Panel on Friday rejected a claim by the pubs group that its biggest shareholders – billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis and the investment vehicle controlled [...]
Embark on an unforgettable winter journey January 17, 2010 SITTING under a palm tree on an idyllic beach starts to sound almost pedestrian when you consider what adventures lie in store for those willing to embrace snow and ice. It’s cold, but winter brings some of the most beautiful landscapes and thrilling activities on earth – from dog sledding in the Arctic Circle to [...]
M&B investors should tell Lewis to get serious January 13, 2010 THE row between Mitchells and Butlers’ largest shareholder Joe Lewis and the pub group’s management shows no sign of abating, making the firm’s stock hard to value. If Lewis wants to make a bid for the company, he’d probably have to offer around 340p, making the shares – which closed at 275.5p yesterday – look [...]
Shareholder hits back in M&B battle January 12, 2010 MITCHELLS and Butlers’ major shareholder yesterday launched a scathing attack on the firm’s board members in which he accused them of blowing £500m. A letter to shareholders by billionaire Joe Lewis accused the board of presiding over “a culture of obfuscation and excess” and said fresh blood was required to rescue the company. Joe Lewis’ [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 6, 2010 MENZIES Numis believes the shares are significantly undervalued and raised its target price from 411p to 423p on the back of a positive trading update. Management said Menzies Aviation had seen a slight improvement in fourth quarter trading, while Menzies Distribution saw the rate of decline for magazine sales slow. UK COAL Charles Kernot has [...]
M&B appoints Joe Lewis man to board of directors January 4, 2010 MITCHELLS & Butlers (M&B), the pub and restaurant group, said yesterday it will appoint Ronald Robson, a representative of rebel shareholder Joe Lewis, to its board from 22 January. The appointment will need to be ratified by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on 28 January, it added. Lewis’s investment vehicle, Piedmont, which is [...]
M&B opens door to rebel appointments December 17, 2009 PUB and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers has invited the four candidates put forward to join its board by rebel shareholder Joe Lewis to meet with headhunters and its nomination committee. The operator of All Bar One and Harvester yesterday said the meetings would enable it to formulate its recommendations as to how shareholders should [...]
The power plant boss who is busy trying to clean up her firm’s act December 16, 2009 T he best way to describe the chief executive of Drax power station Dorothy Thompson is to say that she is poised – a quality that will undoubtedly come in handy when it comes to navigating a path through energy markets beset with low demand and ever more onerous climate change targets. When one meets [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 15, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES MYNERS TO BOOST PROTECTION OF BANK CLIENTS PLANS to increase protection for clients and counterparties of failing investment banks will be unveiled by the Treasury today in an effort to prevent a repeat of the legal wrangling around the collapsed Lehman Brothers. The move is aimed at ensuring an orderly wind-down of investment [...]