Following in the footsteps of Ralph Topping, the former William Hill chief excutive, was never going to be easy. James Henderson, who took the reins from the ebullient Scot 18 months ago, has taken a while to stamp his imprint on the bookmaker, although last week’s results appear to have convinced most of the sceptics.
Was it just a coincidence, therefore, that Andrew Lee, given his marching orders by Mr Henderson in January as managing director of William Hill Online, chose the same day to tweet for the first time since November. “ ‘He that thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.’ Great quote from John Maxwell.”
Location, location . . .
Opinions over the BBC’s Sunday night serial The Night Manager may be divided, but what is not in the doubt is the magnificence of the locations. Most stunning of all in the last episode was La Fortaleza, in Majorca, a fort built in 1628 to defend the Pollensa peninsula from the Saracens. It was acquired a few years ago by James — now Baron — Lupton, the investment banker and Tory donor. Depending on which rag you believe, he paid anywhere between £30 million to £56 million.
Buffett feels a little blue
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Even Warren Buffett makes mistakes. He has taken a big stake in IBM and so far is sitting on a loss of about $2.5 billion. “We expect that the fair value of our investment in IBM common stock will recover and ultimately exceed our cost,” Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report asserts confidently. Perhaps he should follow his own advice and cut his losses.
The wife, a noble sacrifice
Noble Group is the Singapore-listed commodities trader founded by Richard Elman, a former scrap metal dealer in London. Its shares have tanked after an onslaught by an obscure research group called Iceberg Research. Yesterday its fightback took a rather odd turn when it quoted a share blogger on its website as saying: “Finally I see some light. Time to sell car, sell house, sell wife, all in Noble.”
Business big shot
Name Leonid Shutov
Age 48
Position Proprietor, Bob Bob Ricard
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When he opened the Bob Bob Ricard restaurant in Soho in 2008, Leonid Shutov seemed to fit the stereotype of the wealthy Russian entrepreneur with roubles to burn looking for investment opportunities in London. Eight years on, the naturalised Brit is here to stay and today will unveil plans to open a second restaurant in the capital, in the Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City.
Mr Shutov, who had a background in sales and marketing before coming to the UK, has agreed terms with British Land and Ocford Properties, the developers of the Leadenhall Building (to give it its proper name), to open a 180-cover restaurant with private dining rooms and a nine-seat “restaurant-within-a-restaurant” serving sushi, sashimi and tempura. It is estimated that average spend per head for dinner will be about £100. The restaurant is due to open in April next year and will cost about £9 million.
Mr Shutov, who cites Kenneth Williams and Freddy Mercury as his ideal dinner dates, said that it would have a “modern British grill menu”. He said he had yet to decide on a name for the new restaurant, although it would be “Bob Bob something or other”.