Today's letter from the Editor
Today's Matrices

The Business Matrix: Tuesday 1 April 2012

Goals extends bid deadline

Goals Soccer Centres announced 14 days' extra time yesterday – but not for a match. The five-a-side football company has extended the "put up or shut up" deadline for a bid from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan until 5pm on 14 May. The Canadian fund also owns the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team.

Creston revenues set to rise 11%

The PR and marketing group Creston said it expects to report full-year revenues of £75m, an increase of 11 per cent compared with the previous year. The group, warned on profits in January and which owns Nelson Bostock, Fever and Red Door Communications, expects like-for-like revenues to be marginally ahead over the same period.

Fidessa warns of slower growth

Fidessa, which creates and operates trading software for City firms, warned investors yesterday that growth would be slower than last year as conditions would "remain difficult for some time". The group has managed to increase sales thanks to larger corporate customers, but smaller clients are feeling the pressure.

Cobham wins US Navy deal

Cobham has won a $39m (£24m) contract from the US Naval Air Systems Command to manufacture parts for US Navy and Marine Corps' electronic warfare aircraft. The aerospace and defence company said all work will be performed in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Tech City boosts Harvey Nash

The tech recruitment specialist Harvey Nash is powering ahead thanks to London's "Tech City" in Shoreditch. The recruiter yesterday posted a 35 per cent rise in profits to £8.5m, on revenues up 26 per cent to £533m for the year to February.

Microsoft puts $300m into Nook

Barnes & Noble, the US bookstore chain, stoked speculation about the imminent launch of its Nook e-reader in the UK when it signed a new partnership deal yesterday with Microsoft. Under the deal, Microsoft will invest $300m (£185m) in the Nook business, in return for a 17.6 per cent stake that values the business at $1.7bn.

Qatar invests in Barclays fund

One of Barclays' top three shareholders has announced a major investment in the bank's $2.1bn (£1.3bn) natural-resources portfolio. Qatar, which owns 6.8 per cent of Barclays, is set to pump $250m into Barclays Natural Resource Investments, which makes private-equity investments in oil, gas and other natural resources.

Aberdeen profits for rising markets

Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, is optimistic that stock markets will keep rising. "If equity flows are anything to go by it's still looking pretty good," he said. First-half headline profits at Aberdeen rose 14 per cent to £162m, while funds under management rose 9 per cent to £185bn.

Compensation for Arch Cru buyers

The Financial Services Authority has launched a redress scheme for 15,000 victims of the Arch Cru funds mis-selling scandal. It could lead to investors being paid compensation of more than £100m by the financial advice firms which sold the high-risk funds.

Flying Brands sale talks over unit

The home shopping company Flying Brands is in discussions with prospective purchasers regarding its Gardening Direct retail business, but said it is not the company's current intention to sell either its Retreat Farm or GLD businesses.

Career Services

Day In a Page

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub
The Last Word: Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally

The Last Word

Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally