Alternative reference

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 49 views]

www.invbiznews.com
French and Spanish banks lock horns in battle for Alliance and Leicester

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 31 views]

French bank Credit Agricole has made an informal bid for the Alliance and Leicester. At the moment, it’s all just rumour and speculation since the bid was informal. The UK bank does not have to make an official announcement. But while the French suitor licks its wounds and no doubt prepares for stage 2, the [...]
Commodity prices set to drop

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 67 views]

We all know commodities are expensive these days. The high price of steel has seen profits at the likes of Mittal rocket; even the UK’s Corus has made profits recently. The mining sector has seen a big lift in profitability with companies such as Antofagasta, BHB Billiton and Rio Tinto often topping the weekly risers [...]
NASDAQ drops out of LSE battle

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 60 views]

The London Stock Exchange just doesn’t seem to want to be taken over. This morning NASDAQ announced that it was withdrawing from the battle to own the LSE, after the LSE turned down its offer. The NASDAQ move leaves Euronext – which recently gained regulatory approval for an LSE bid, and the New York Stock [...]
Sainsbury’s homes in on Asda

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 18 views]

When Justin King became the new chief executive at Sainsbury’s it seemed as if he had about as much chance of stemming the tide against the retailer as that other king, Canute did of stemming the actual tide. But cost cutting, the initiation of the “Making Sainsbury’s Great Again” programme, and an effort to improve [...]
High Street malaise set to continue

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 54 views]

The March round up of retail reports was kicked off yesterday with the CBI distributive trades survey. And yes, it was bad news- again, but at least there is some hope. The CBI index- that’s the balance between retailers who said trade was up with those who said it was down was -16, a slight [...]
Internet advertising set to eclipse national newspapers

30 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 66 views]

Here’s the stat that really counts. Back in 2001, in the first year after the dot com crash, online advertising in the UK was worth just £165mn. At the time some talked about the Internet as if it was yesterday’s hot story. Clichés were bandied about such as the “Internet has a great future behind [...]
UK needs to get fitter

29 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 59 views]

Deloitte may have the answer to the UK’s low productivity. Apparently, only 48% of the UK’s working population exercise for 150 minutes a week or more. If this level could be increased to 70%, then Blightey’s healthier populace would take less sickies, and work 2,783,808 more days a year saving the UK £487mn. The Deloitte [...]
The BEEB’s rivals don’t like it.

29 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 14 views]

In the UK, competition in the TV market is not played on a level playing field. One organisation is funded by a compulsory fee, which all viewers have to pay, even if they only watch competitive channels. We are of course referring to the license fee. Competition should of course be encouraged, if it serves [...]
Not even Harry Potter can bring magic to Ottakar’s results

29 Mar 2006 [0 Comments | 6 views]

If you are in the book trade, here’s the good news. According to Ottakar’s boss, James Heneage, the market is growing 2 to 3% a year at the moment, and with the latest Harry Potter book published last year, the UK public went out and read more than ever. Yet despite those promising fundamentals, Ottakar’s [...]
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