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The biking buyers
Canada beckons as the first leg of a 29,000-mile global bicycle tour for two interim purchasing managers.

Caroline Barrett and her partner David Artindale, who have been working at Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh, left the UK last week on a year-long trip.
PPP row over Tube


Ken Livingstone, London mayor, is on a legal collision course with the government over plans to use a public-private partnership (PPP) for London Underground.
Vivendi Universal


IT not so crucial


If you are a director over 45 you are more likely to believe e-commerce and IT are not the most critical issues facing the company, according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
The Age of E-tail
Alex Birch et al Capstone, £15
Telecoms overhaul


The lucrative Government Telecommunications Contract has been overhauled to allow business to be conducted online and in a simplified format. The new agreement allows providers to supply services under the broader headings of application, managed or telecoms services. Only nine of the 27 original IT and telecoms suppliers have been retained, and will be joined by 23 new suppliers.
Vehicles alliance


One of the Ministry of Defence's key logistics agencies has formed a strategic agreement with a military vehicles supplier. The Army Base Repair Organisation and Alvis Vehicles will develop an integrated approach to equipment support for its transport requirements.
Smiths to demerge


Smiths, the aerospace group, is to demerge its automotive division. The move comes after nine months of seeking a buyer for the division which it inherited from its takeover of engineering company the TI Group last year. Smiths’ management will have no involvement in the business, although it will retain a 20 per cent equity in the new company, which is at present unquoted.
BP under pressure


Oil company BP’s partners are understood to be attempting to force the company to use US contractors for the construction of a new oil platform. The partners, including Chevron and Conoco, claim that US shipyards offer savings of up to a third compared with UK companies, for the oilfield in Clair, west of Shetland. BP has said it will strongly argue the case for domestic contractors.
Vertical Take Off
In 1992, British Aerospace recorded the biggest single asset write-off in UK corporate history. Yet, by 1999, it was able to acquire its largest national rival in a £7.8 billion deal.
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