Business Diary: Hornby erased from Boots

Never let it be said that Alliance Boots is a company that does not move quickly and decisively. No sooner had it announcedyesterday that Andy Hornby, its chief executive, was stepping down with immediate effect, than all trace of him had been wiped from the company's website. We're all for corporations making sure this sort of information is as up-to-date as possible, but Mr Hornby had barely had time to clear his desk. Give the man a break.

Liberum gets Aga shares away

We should make it clear upfront that there is no suggestion of misbehaviour here, but Liberum Capital, the investment bank, needs to tread carefully with its public pronouncements. It despatched a press release yesterday detailing its successful sale of 17 million shares in Aga Rangemaster, the posh cooker company. "Thisfollows a buy recommendation which led to renewed interest in the stock," the bank explained. And who was the buy recommendation in question from? Step forward Liberum Capital (though it subsequently pointed out that other analysts has said buy too).

Last one out, turn out the lights

Fair play to Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, which got in touch to tell us that it will bejoining the Earth Hour initiative this evening. For those of you who have not heard about the even, you can take part too: the idea is for households and businesses all over the world to turn off non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for 60 minutes. Still it is a Saturday – shouldn't Lloyd's, and every other business for that matter, be turning off non-essential lights and appliances for the whole weekend?

The publisher that got chippy

The business-to-business publishing industry is notoriously cut-throat with magazinescompeting hard for every industry reader they can get. In that context, may we salute oneparticular publication for an inspired rebranding exercise that is certain to attract many new subscribers. The March issue of Fryer and Fast Food will be the last – henceforth the magazine is to be entitledChippy Chat magazine. There's a gag in there somewhere about fish and chip wrappers.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk