Business Diary: June 11

The answer, it seems, was Bridlington.

Last week Diary was among journalists who chatted to former Foreign Secretary David Miliband after he delivered a speech at the Yorkshire International Business Convention at Bridlington Spa.

Mr Miliband spent part of his early childhood in Leeds where his family lived for four years in Horsforth in the 1970s. His father, Marxist academic Ralph Miliband, lectured at Leeds University while David attended Newlaithes Junior School in Horsforth for three years and then Benton Park School for a year.

Mr Miliband, who will soon take up a senior role at the International Rescue Committee in New York, said: “Bridlington is beautiful, it is booming. Looking at the weather today, the wonderful beaches, what a fantastic advertisement for British tourism.”

Mr Miliband recalled holidaying in the resort as a child in the 1970s.

“It may have been 1974 or 1975. My family were in West Yorkshire, and we came across for a holiday. To be frank, all I can remember was that it rained – so quite different to today. But I’m impressed with what I have seen.”

Mr Miliband said that “small towns can be distinctive places”.

He added: “I know that from South Shields (his former constituency), I always described it as the city edge, away from Sunderland and Newcastle,” he continued. “In that way you can have the benefits of the city, without being there.”

No weekend banking

He is the Yorkshire-born and educated CEO with the bank that everyone loves to hate, taking over from Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin five years ago at the height of the financial crisis.

But Stephen Hester, the 52-year-old CEO of RBS, revealed another side at the weekend in a profile piece in the FT. The bailout of the bank left a bitter taste for many in 2008, as it cost taxpayers £45bn, yet as the FT pointed out the bank “won’t lend to Britain’s small businesses, but pays out bonuses hand over fist, one that is still humiliatingly 82 per cent owned by the government”.

Mr Hester was hoping for a rare piece of good news for RBS this week, if a report from the Parliamentary Commission decides not to break up the bank.

He spent his childhood in rural North Yorkshire, attending Easingwold School in North Yorkshire and being the first student from the comprehensive to go to Oxford, where as a contemporary of Foreign Secretary William Hague, he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Hester refuses to work at weekends and tries to leave the office by 7pm. He said RBS is now “something approaching a normal bank”.

He said of his tenure at RBS: “In retrospect, I’m sure I will look back and enjoy what I have achieved.”

Angela’s at the top

The chief executive of Burberry, the luxury group which makes its heritage trenchcoats in Yorkshire, has topped the executive pay league, the first time ever for a woman.

Angela Ahrendts took home £16.9m last year, including a £990,000 salary, £2m annual bonus and £11.9m from the sale of shares.

Ms Ahrendts, a mother of three, has overtaken male executives with a pay gap of £5m. She is one of just three women as chief executive of FTSE 100 companies.

The luxury group saw full-year pre-tax profits rise by 14 per cent on strong retail growth in Asian markets, where it has increased the number of Burberry branded stores.

Some have welcomed the news as she breaks through the glass ceiling, while other commentators warn it is not representative of the male-dominated corporate world.

Monster success

PERSEVERANCE paid off for Monster Pet Supplies last week when it caught the attention of investor and entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, formerly of TV’s Dragons’ Den.

The Leeds-based online pet shop had entered Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday competition via Twitter each week for more than a year, using a variety of ‘tweets’ to try to shine a spotlight on its business.

But it was a joke that saw Monster Pet Supplies named as one of the six winners of Paphitis’ competition last week and saw the firm’s message re-tweeted to his 360,000 followers.

It read as follows: “Why did the #cat go to medical school? To become a First Aid Kit! Shop Monster Pet Supplies: www.monsterpetsupplies. co.uk”