Grid star Irvine lands six-month prison sentence January 9, 2014 FORMER Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine has been sentenced to six months in prison following a conviction for his part in a brawl in a Milan nightclub in 2008. The 48-year-old, who spent nine years as a Formula One star, was found guilty along with Gabriele Moratti, the son of a former Milan mayor, of causing [...]
Brutal slavery epic is destined for awards January 9, 2014 FILM 12 YEARS A SLAVE Cert 15 | By Simon Thomson Five Stars STEVE McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is a brilliant film, but its brutality makes for difficult viewing. That might be the point. Based on a memoir of the same name, the book’s subtitle offers a succinct, albeit bloodless, summary of the film: [...]
Ford set for England call-up as Lancaster opts for young squad January 8, 2014 FORMER world junior player of the year George Ford is set to be named in a new-look 35-man England squad today for the forthcoming Six Nations. With France-bound fly-half Toby Flood set to be overlooked, the Bath No10 is in line for a first senior international call-up from coach Stuart Lancaster. And Ford could be [...]
No Microsoft move for Mulally January 7, 2014 Ford CEO Alan Mulally announced yesterday that he has no intention of leaving his job at the end of the year, after continued speculation that he would replace outgoing Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, who announced his retirement in the summer. In an interview with the Associated Press, Mulally confirmed that would not be moving to [...]
Fresh finance deal for Caffe Nero revealed January 7, 2014 COFFEE chain Caffe Nero announced that a £275m deal to refinance its debts had been completed yesterday. The deal is split between £100m of senior debt instruments, £150m in mezzanine debt and £25m in capital expenditure. The firm say that they will expand abroad and in the UK, as well as releasing a new “at home” [...]
Why you’d be “quite stupid” to stay out of the equity game in 2014 January 2, 2014 According to Saxo Bank's Head of Equity Strategy, Peter Garnry, 2014 is still a good year for equities. Despite worries that US Fed tapering will prompt a major correction, Garnry says there's still plenty of value to be had. Equities are drift assets… they rise because of nominal price increases… you would expect them to [...]
Ford warns new car launches will dent its profit growth next year December 18, 2013 FORD warned yesterday that the cost of launching new vehicles and a deteriorating Venezuelan economy would dent its profit next year, news that sent the US’ second-largest automaker’s shares to their biggest one-day percentage drop in more than two years. The Detroit-based company said its mid-decade target for a global automotive profit margin of eight [...]
One of the top candidates for Microsoft CEO just got snapped up by Qualcomm December 13, 2013 A day after rumours circulated that Steve Mollenkopf could be one of the top picks for the Microsoft CEO job, Qualcomm has announced that he'll be its CEO and president. Mollenkopf will take the lead from 4 March 2014 at the chip giant. He's been at the company for nearly 20 years, and replaces Dr. [...]
Future is sweet for Nectar as it ranks top of the loyalty schemes December 10, 2013 NECTAR has become the country’s most popular loyalty scheme, with 16.8m subscribers. A staggering 50 per cent of households now swipe their Nectar card when shopping in stores and online and it has become more popular than both the Tesco Clubcard and the Boots Advantage card. Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury’s customer director, said: “Customers are increasingly [...]
Gold leaves Bath director post December 9, 2013 RUGBY UNION: High-flying Bath have parted company with director of rugby Gary Gold. The South African, 46, took up his new role in the summer when the club, who sit third in the Premiership, promoted Mike Ford to head coach.