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Ladbroke to test new 3-star hotels in Brazil

LADBROKE, the hotels and gaming leisure group, is considering developing a chain of three-star hotels in conjunction with joint venture partners, writes Nigel Cope.

Shares slide as Vaux denies takeover talks

VAUX'S SHARES slumped 11 per cent yesterday, wiping pounds 60m from the pubs-to-hotels group's market value after the company denied that it was in takeover talks.

Investment: Impressive Millennium

IS MILLENNIUM & Copthorne in denial? Investors are convinced that the entire hotel sector is facing a slowdown as a result of the Asian crisis and the strong pound. But the hotel group remains stubbornly bullish.

Win a holiday to the Scilly Isles to see the total eclipse of the sun

INDEPENDENT EYEWITNESS COMPETITION

Lonrho sells hotel chain

Lonrho has sold its Princess Hotels chain to Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts for US$540m (pounds 330m). The price includes $71m of debt and Lonrho will use $56m of the proceeds to repay the balance of the division's debt. Lonrho shares rose 16p to 307p. Meanwhile Lonrho Africa, the trading interests demerged from Lonrho last month, revealed losses of pounds 2.3m including pounds 4.9m of exceptional charges in the six months to 31 March. But the shares rose 4p to 80p after the company confirmed a mystery consortium has acquired over 4 per cent of the shares.

Granada seeks hotel alliances overseas

GRANADA, the leisure conglomerate, is in talks with hotel operators in the US and the Far East about forming a series of alliance which would allow it to reach a new range of customers.

Investment Column: Clouds appear on Granada's horizon

IT'S BEEN a while since Granada, that bustling hub of corporate activity, reported a set of figures that could be compared with those of the previous period. But yesterday's interim results, which showed pretax profits up 13 per cent to pounds 274m on turnover up 12 per cent at pounds 1.9bn, were the least distorted that the media to hotels conglomerate has reported for a while.

Buy me: Antique handbags

From Emma Noble to Liz glittery knickers Hurley, premiers and opening nights look more like a scene from a Russ Meyer film. Everyone rocks up in see-through slips and negligees and it's been left up to the accessories to lend individuality to their wearers. Enter then, the handbag - no longer a mere receptacle but a statement of intent.

The Investment Column: Boom is back for Stakis

THE HOTEL business is always shifting from feast to famine and back again, and the City's perception of the sector tends to suffer from the same mood swings. After a boom in 1996 which spawned a glut of flotations, hotels spent last year in the doldrums. This year, hotel groups such as Stakis are suddenly in favour. The Scottish group's share price has risen by over 50 per cent since January.

Letter: Floating motor

ACCORDING to your article "Booze cruise fears for QE2" (7 April), the QE2 is about to be turned into a motel. Where will they put all the cars, and will the Captain have a parking space reserved just for him?

Legal battle costs Queens Moat pounds 3.6m

QUEENS Moat Houses, the hotelier embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with its former management team, said the case had cost the group pounds 3.6m last year on top of a pounds 1.1m legal bill in 1996.

Savoy shares slip amid growing doubts over sale

SHARES in the Savoy group fell 135p to 1665p yesterday amid growing doubts about a pounds 500m-plus sale of the company, writes Andrew Yates.

Savoy's sparkle set to raise asking price

THE SAVOY HOTEL group, the subject of a furious bidding war, yesterday burst back into the black, announcing pre-tax profits of pounds 22.2m in 1997 compared to a loss of pounds 24.3m in the previous year.

Dispute over Savoy sale

Dispute over Savoy sale
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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