Hints and tips:
...M&B said half-year sales were £219m against £1.04bn last year, resulting in a pre-tax loss widening to £200m from £121m the year before....
...Lance Batchelor is retiring next month after six years. His departure follows a turbulent period for the company....
...HSBC has hired Jeremy Choy, the former co-head of M&A at China Renaissance Holdings, as head of technology M&A in Asia, Bloomberg reports....
...By opting for Narasimhan, Reckitt has hedged consumer sector experience (“the dimension that really counts”) with the M&A expertise of an ex-McKinsey consultant....
...“I am not a big, big collector — I’m more like an art patron. My priority now is supporting the Taiwanese art scene and Taiwanese artists internationally.”...
...Lance Batchelor, Saga’s chief executive, said the answer was to move “the conversation from price to value”. What sort of value?...
...If you don’t understand Urdu and I am speaking it in front of you, it is very likely I’m discussing you....
...Lance Batchelor, Saga chief executive, said Mr Quin had “extensive strategic, investor and operational finance experience within the Insurance industry and will be a valuable member of the leadership team...
...Bonmarche’s shares lost a fifth, but M&B’s rose on hopes that its sunnier performance might bring net debt below 4 times earnings....
...Premier was once one of the UK’s biggest food businesses but came close to collapse in 2008 after a debt-fuelled M&A spree....
...Skadden, the law firm, has hired Edward William Batchelor as a partner in the Brussels office. He joins from Baker McKenzie....
...Intelligent curation and exclusive information: This is Due Diligence, the FT’s daily briefing on corporate finance, private equity and M&A. DD is delivered to your inbox Tuesday-Friday at 5am UK time....
...“I’m sorry it’s not more management guru-ish,” she tells me, laughing. “But anybody who’s really any good at this will tell you that this is hard.”...
...I’m working my way through Nadine Gordimer’s Life Times: Stories 1952-2007....
...Mr Darby said: “I’m confident that we’ll look back to the first half and say it was a transitional half and an exception from the trend.”...
...“They are more aware of the negatives around trading and M&A, and the alternatives have increased in popularity.”...
...I’m always astonished that power couples survive. Sometimes they compete for glory and egg each other on in the extravagance stakes....
...“Women work three or four years and then exit private equity or M&A but then you do see this with men too,” she says....
...“I’m delighted to have exceeded our disposal target 20 months early while at the same time delivering three successive quarters of sales growth,” he said....
...Simon French, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, says: “I’m cautious on Domino’s in the short term – because of the recent dry, mild weather people are more likely to go out and eat rather than stay home....
...A fortnight ago, Lance Batchelor, the head of Tesco Mobile, was named as deputy chief executive of Domino’s Pizza....
...“People ask me when the new energy market is going to take off,” he says, “and I’m mildly gobsmacked....
...Good dividend payers can be found around the globe, says Stuart Rhodes, manager of the M&G Global Dividend Fund, a £25m fund with 50 investments launched in July....
...Apparently, they only sell 20 million tins a year over here, though I’m sure at the peak of my addiction I must have bought that many on my own....
...But I’m still left with the impression that some of its judgments seem rough and ready. charles.batchelor@ft.com...
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