Questor share tip: Buy Logica - it could reap benefits of EU outsourcing

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Published: 7:00AM GMT 25 Feb 2010





Logica

Logica

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Administration for Ethel Austin

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Clothing retailer Ethel Austin has gone into administration for the second time in two years.The 300-strong chain will continue trading as normal while a new buyer is sought, administrators MCR said. But MCR said it could not rule out closures or redundancies as there were “no guarantees” that a buyer could be found in the current economic climate. Administrators blamed the move on failure to secure necessary funding, compounded by poor trading in January. “There is no doubt in our mind that the onset of the global economic crisis has hit the retail sector particularly hard,” said Geoff Bouchier from MCR. “As a consequence of this the companies have struggled to secure funders which in turn has impacted their ability to generate sales revenue.” Ethel Austin’s sister firm, homeware retailer Au Naturale, has also gone into administration. Ethel Austin, formed more than 70 years ago, is based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It first went into administration in 2008, but was bought within a month by the former head of retailer MK One.

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Shopping giants press for longer Sunday trading hours in time for next year’s Boxing Day bonanza

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:58 PM on 28th December 2009
Shopping centres are to pressure the Government to change the Sunday trading laws in time for next year’s Christmas sales, it was confirmed today.Tens of thousands of shoppers were turfed out of shopping centres across the UK yesterday because the law allows only six hours of trading for outlets larger than 3,000 square feet.Boxing Day falls on a Sunday next year and so retailers will now lobby the Government to relax the law so shops can open longer during the sales bonanza, which is vital to bolster recession-hit sales.
Restricted frenzy: larger sales outlets could only open for six hours yesterday
Gordon McKinnon, operations director of the Trafford Centre in Manchester, said today: ‘Next year Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, it is going to be an absolute nightmare unless something is done.’Yesterday, a Sunday, we had 20,000 people in the centre before the shops were open and at 6pm we had to close with 30,000 still inside.’Turning people away in the current economic climate is just lunacy.’The Government could take a real positive step to support the hard-hit retail sector to eliminate this ridiculous situation on Sundays.’Over the years shopping on a Sunday has got more and more important.’The Sunday trading restriction is a piece of regulation that is not required in the modern day.’Hour for hour, Sunday is the busiest day of the week for us. The demand is there, as illustrated for everyone to see yesterday across the country.’

Mr McKinnon said a group of regional shopping centres, including the Trafford Centre, Meadowhall in Sheffield, Bluewater in Kent and Westfield in London, were among those proposing to lobby the Government to change the laws in the New Year.He also said a number of big individual retailers were also looking at how to resolve the situation for next year.The Sunday Trading Act was brought in in 1994 to allow shops to open legally for the first time in England and Wales.Small shops can open all day but bigger shops are restricted to six hours of business between the hours of 10am and 6pm.The resulting legislation has been seen as a compromise between commercial interests and those who wanted to observe the Sabbath. 

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Gala Coral fancies the odds as it cuts inspectors at its casinos

For decades the casino inspector has been seen as crucial to preventing gamblers from stacking the odds in their favour. Dressed in black tie, the inspectors would sit at the end of a roulette table, monitoring betting patterns and the behaviour of punters and croupiers to ensure that there was no cheating.
But one of Britain’s biggest casino operators has decided to make big cuts to the number of inspectors it employs in an effort to cut costs and cash in on the growing sophistication of electronic surveillance. Gala Coral is to cut 53 inspectors at its four London casinos and is to review employment levels at its 22 regional venues.
In a confidential memo to staff that The Times has seen, the company reveals plans to reduce the ratio of inspectors to croupiers or dealers from the norm of 1 to 1.5 or 1 to 2 to a ratio of 1 to 3.
The memo reads: “Due to the current economic climate, the company requires to cut its costs.” It argues that the change, which has been approved by the Gambling Commission, owes also to “better working practices and security measures, including the centralised camera room”.

One veteran casino executive said: “Gala has obviously decided that the cost savings from having fewer inspectors will more than outweigh any additional losses from cheating. In practice, there is very little cheating, so it’s probably a good call.”
A Gala casino employee, who asked not to be named, said that longserving staff were being treated with “complete and utter contempt” by the company, and that the redundancies were “simply an exercise to sack higher-paid staff”.
But Neil Goulden, the Gala Coral chairman, denied last night that staff had been treated badly. He said: “It’s unfortunate but we needed to do it.” He added that many of those affected had been redeployed, and that those who had taken redundancy had been offered generous terms.
He claimed that in recent years, as numerous dealers had left, many inspectors had additionally taken on the dealing role. As a result, its London casinos had become “very top heavy” with inspectors.
Mr Goulden confirmed that there would be 53 redundancies among its London inspectors, saving £500,000, although the group would also be recruiting up to 50 dealers. He said there was less of an issue at its provincial clubs, adding: “We’re still looking at whether we need to do anything.”
He said that the latest cuts were part of a “massive efficiency drive” at the embattled group over the past two years as it reacted to the impact of the smoking ban, the recession and new gambling laws on its casinos, bingo clubs and betting shops. Over the past two years, the total number of employees has been reduced by 1,350 to 18,150, including 250 head-office staff. Many of the 1,000 bingo cuts were natural wastage.
News of the casino redundancies comes amid delays to the proposed refinancing of the group’s £2.5 billion debt burden. The company had hoped to have it arranged by Christmas, but an impasse has pushed back a solution until next month. People close to the process reckon that the senior lenders will reject a £300 million equity injection from Blackstone and Permira and opt to convert £540 million of mezzanine debt into equity.
The old tricks
The biggest casino cheating scams are, for the most part, the stuff of Hollywood movies. In reality, cheating is rare and the methods employed are far too mundane to trouble scriptwriters of films about Las Vegas. Some of the most common:
Top-hatting Used in roulette after the ball has landed on a winning number. A cheat takes advantage of a moment of inattention by the croupier to add a chip to the pile on the winning number.
Nudging The player takes advantage of a distraction to nudge a losing chip on to a winning number.
Past-posting After a bet is won, the cheat surreptitiously replaces a smaller-denonomination chip with a larger one.
Marking cards Cards are marked to allow players to recognise cards from the back. Can be done either during play or in advance in collusion with the dealer.
Card counting The mentally agile can count cards to improve their odds. It is illegal in UK casinos because it turns a game of chance into one of skill.
Collusion In poker, partners can collude to signal their card values. In other casino games, the croupier or dealer pays out to associates on losing bets.
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Airbus A400M finally takes off

After a two-year delay and a massive budget overspend, the Airbus A400M
military transport plane finally got off the ground today when it carried
out its first test flight.

Ed Strongman, the British test pilot, led a six-strong crew as the hulking
grey aircraft took off from an airfield at Seville in Spain amid applause
from Airbus employees, politicians and journalists gathered for the event.

Airbus 400M has faced doubts over its future after an estimated €5 billion
(£4.5 billion) overspend.

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Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer’s pay cut as sales fall

Reuters

Published: 8:46AM BST 30 Sep 2009

Mr Ballmer, chief executive since 2000, earned a total of $1,276,627 for
fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, according to a filing with securities
regulators on Tuesday. That is slightly below the previous fiscal year’s
total of $1,350,834.

His salary of $665,833 was up slightly from last year, but his bonus was
slashed by $100,000 to $600,000.

At his own request, Mr Ballmer receives no compensation in the form of
Microsoft shares.

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Tax returns: pay up or pay consequences

Published: 9:42AM BST 25 Sep 2009

Thousands of individuals, including the self-employed, anyone who receives
income from more than one source or who is a higher-rate taxpayer may be
affected. These individuals will need to ensure they notify HM Revenue and
Customs (HMRC) by October 5, according to business and financial adviser
Grant Thornton.

More than 9 million people have to fill in a tax return this year. In
addition, individuals who have not completed a tax return in the past and
have therefore not been issued with a notice to file a return are required
to notify HMRC by October 5 if they have a new taxable income source where
tax has not been accounted for.

Francesca Lagerberg, head of tax at Grant Thornton, says: “The current
economic climate has caused a growing number of people to seek additional
income. Individuals may have rented out a property which has previously been
used as a holiday or second home.

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Go-Ahead beats expectations despite fall in Gatwick traffic

Go-Ahead, the British rail and bus operator, said that its Gatwick Express
franchise has suffered a fall in passenger numbers due to fewer people
flying from the airport.

Despite the decline, the transport company, which operates the Southern,
Southeastern and London Midland franchises, beat market expectations for
full year profit and held its dividend payment.

Go-Ahead said that the new financial year has begun as it had previously
guided despite the tough economic climate.

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Insurers suspicious as fire damage claims spike 20%

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:55 AM on 01st September 2009

A spike in claims over property fire damage has sparked an investigation from the insurance industry.The Association of British Insurers says claims have jumped more than 20 per cent to 444million in the last two years, with many 500,000-plus claims coming from commercial building fires.Meanwhile, domestic claims have also shot up by almost as much.

Money making: Fire damage claims have gone up a suspicious amount since the recession began

The insurer believes struggling businesses may be turning to arson to solve financial issues brought on by the recession.
A statement from the ABI said: ‘We do know that there are some
crimes that are linked to the underlying economic climate - fraud being
one of them and fraudulent arson in particular.’
Fraudulent insurance claims can be used by some companies to free them from untenable running costs and money woes.
David Williams, Axa Insurance‘s managing director for claims, said
forensic scientists were being brought in to help combat the problem
with better analysis.

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Network Rail plans £34bn high-speed route

Rail passengers could travel from London to Scotland in just over two hours on
a £34 billion high-speed line proposed by Network Rail yesterday.

Trains travelling at 200mph could move thousands of people between London, the
Midlands and the North West of England, as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh,
with the journey to Birmingham reduced to 46 minutes.

Passengers could reach Manchester from the capital in 1 hour and 6 minutes,
Liverpool in 1 hour and 23 minutes and Edinburgh in 2 hours and 9 minutes.
The proposed timetable includes up to 16 trains an hour to and from London,
providing 9,100 seats an hour into the capital.

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