Business week in review

In profit …

Marks & Spencer investors have worried interminably over the high street chain's poor sales, but Jo Jenkins was poached from Next on Wednesday to become director of lingerie and beauty.

Tim Martin saw sales at his JD Wetherspoon pubs rise 6.3 per cent in the 13 weeks to 28 April. Martin harbours greater ambitions, saying on Wednesday: "We're still not Microsoft or Apple."

BT chief executive Ian Livingston was all cheer on Friday, when the telecoms giant unveiled a 21 per cent rise in first-quarter profit.

... at a loss

Nick Buckles, the beleaguered boss of G4S, the security company that didn't have enough guards to man the London Olympics, warned on Tuesday that difficult clients in Africa and prison closures in the Netherlands would hit profit margins this year.

On Thursday, the beleaguered leader of Kazakhstan miner ENRC, Felix Vulis, was hit by the resignation of the group's brokers, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank.

And on Friday, Co-op bank boss Barry Tootell quit in the wake of a shock ratings downgrade.