Market Round-up: Speculation that Prudential may now find itself the pursued rather than the pursuer pushes the insurance giant up the Footsie winners’ list... more
Peter Montagnon, former Financial Times hack and attack dog for the Association of British Insurers, is off to the Financial Reporting Council to be its senior investment adviser... more
Twenty-three business chiefs write in support of George Osborne’s plan to scrap the proposed rise in National Insurance, and it’s hailed as a sign the Tories have UK Plc on side... more
Bookie Paddy Power normally runs a fun bet titled Premier League Sack Race on top-flight managers losing their jobs. Sadly, it doesn't offer odds on the same thing but for major chief executives...... more
Punch Taverns cut the value of its pub estate by £663 million, a move that would slice billions off industry finances if its rivals followed suit ... more
Shares in debt-laden Punch Taverns have been in freefall since it tapped investors last month for an extra £375 million in order to reduce debts still topping almost £4 billion... more
Punch Taverns set about raising £350million from shareholders as it seeks to pay down a crippling debt pile of £4.2 billion and convince sceptics that it is through the worst of the crisis in the pub industry... more
If Ted Tuppen and Giles Thorley ran a pub, would anyone come? Even if people did, could either man make a profit? The chief executives of Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns - Britain's two biggest pub companies - are fairly scathing about the abilities of landlords who fail, so these seem to me like fair questions.... more
Punch Taverns boss Giles Thorley took a breather from bust-ups with fractious landlords to unveil another set of disposals and some progress on cutting £4.6 billion debts
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Leisure: The strife in the pub trade shows little sign of easing, but Britain’s biggest landlord insists it will defy City predictions and trade through the gloom... more
Consumer: Punch Taverns insisted that talk of the death of the British pub is wildly exaggerated as it unveiled resilient profits in the toughest trading environment for decades... more
Banking: Hundreds of jobs at bust bank Lehman Brothers in Canary Wharf could be saved in a takeover, not by Barclays as expected, but by Nomura... more
No wonder bankers take outrageous risks. If they come off, they can go and set up their own charitable foundation, and if they fail, everyone else pays the bill... more
Alas, the poor Darling. He’s a pathetic sight, frantically touring the TV studios, trying to appear in charge, when everyone can see the strings on the puppet... more
Pub companies battered by the credit crunch, the smoking ban and the worst trading conditions for a decade woke up to another headache - a fresh Government investigation into the industry... more
There is little sign of the rehabilitation of the British pub as the effects of banishing smoking clientele to outside runs into an economic downturn... more
Tonight:
3°c
