Hitchcock

Southern Cross boss goes after eight months

Chief executive will leave before the end of the year 'by mutual consent' and without a payoff, according to the company

Business Direct goes into administration

The collapse of the courier service business comes as delivery companies suffer from high fuel prices and falling spending

Vanni Treves: the barrister manqué

Martin Waller meets the man who steered Equitable Life through troubled times and is now running the UK side of Korn/Ferry

Regus quits UK for Luxembourg over tax breaks

The office rental company becomes the third UK business this week to flee Britain for favourable overseas rates

Directory services set sights on mobiles

Five years after the 192 service closed, the volume of calls is still falling, forcing operators to look for new markets

Rentokil refuses to allay rights issue fears

Alan Brown, the chief executive of Rentokil Initial, refused to rule out the possibility of a cash call by the conglomerate

Economy ... Rentokil ... WPP: Tempus at lunchtime

Economy makes grim reading for the government ... Rentokil's fortunes could get even worse ... WPP looks to China

Tempus analysis: Deep infestation

Rentokil has issued four profits warnings since December and has warned investors of a lengthy recovery plan

Rentokil says recovery could take five years

Shares fall as chief executive warns it will take 3 to 5 years for services group to turn around as downturn begins to bite

John Menzies profits take a 26% dive

Scottish group takes a tumble as it hit turbulence in the aviation sector and paid out for airport expansion

Hiscox says even the rich go on the fiddle

Robert Hiscox, chairman of the eponymous insurer, said the rich are not immune to fiddling in times of financial strain

Michael Page looks beyond London for profits

The recruitment company has tried to reassure investors it can weather the credit crunch after ending talks with Adecco

With experience comes age, but not always wisdom

Experience didn't appear to do much good with Lehman Brothers, where the average age of the independent directors is 68

Michael Page takes lone stance as profits rise

Recruitment group extols organic strategy and reports 22% rise in income after ending takeover talks with Adecco

Business big shot: John Connolly

UK senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte steered the company to a credit-crunch-busting pre-tax profits total of £654m