Poland’s growing economy and openness to Western businesses made it a suitable place to begin services he said

Poland’s growing economy and openness to Western businesses made it a suitable place to begin services, he said.National Express has invested pounds 2.4m in new coaches, and will use local operating companies for servicing and maintenance.The company has been growing its European routes, but this is the first time National Express has started a domestically-based service outside Britain.Poland has few long-distance travel services and moving from one city to another usually means a series of short journeys by bus or train.Services across Europe are proving a big growth market for coach companies, especially within the European Union. Travel has become easier with the removal of trade barriers, and anti-competitive legislation has enabled firms to compete more effectively with domestic carriers. Last year National Express bought Eurolines Nederland, a partner of its Eurolines UK subsidiary.(Photograph omitted). HIGH executive salaries and lucrative share options came under attack at London Electricity’s annual meeting yesterday. One shareholder described the deals as ‘repugnant’ and called on Bob Reid, the chairman, to call a halt to the payouts.
The shareholder cited a pounds 516,000 profit on options made by the former chairman, John Wilson, and said: ‘Will you put the brakes on please?’Another shareholder attacked the way pay is decided by a committee of non-executive directors whose pay, in turn, is decided by executive colleagues.’We are all human. If they pat each other on the back how can we be sure that they are independent and unbiased? If I do you a favour then you do me a favour,’ he said.Sir Bob, who is also the chairman of British Rail – now hit by strikes by the RMT union – replied: ‘I have been saying that to Jimmy Knapp for the last few weeks.’Sir Bob then launched a staunch defence of London Electricity’s pay policies. ‘Remuneration packages are absolutely key to motivation and they must be competitive,’ he said.’In this country there is a dearth of management and a surplus of predators and headhunters.

You have to pay enough to keep good people and keep them motivated.’Sir Bob defended the system of non-executive remuneration teams. ‘You cannot expect God to make your decisions for you,’ he said.Leslie Priestley, chairman of London Electricity’s remuneration committee, said that decisions were taken using comparisons with other companies, many of which are outside the electricity sector. He said that London Electricity was by no means near the top of the salary league.. HALIFAX is beefing up its claim to be the ‘biggest and best’ home lender in the UK by negotiating to buy Banque Nationale de Paris’ pounds 1.5bn British mortgage subsidiary, writes John Willcock.

The deal will double the size of Halifax’s centralised mortgage loan book. It will increase its share of the pounds 350bn UK mortgage market from 15.5 per cent to 16 per cent, taking its total loan portfolio to more than pounds 56bn.
The society hopes to complete the deal before Christmas. The BNP subsidiary will continue to trade in its present form, and there will be no redundancies among its 150 employees, located in Cardiff.Gary Marsh, head of group corporate affairs at Halifax, said the society was also in acquisition talks with several other centralised mortgage lenders. A significant number of financial services companies have been retreating from centralised mortgage lending as low interest rates have made profits harder to come by.Mr Marsh said that Halifax wanted to expand through organic growth, mergers with other societies and buying mortgage books.There may be another acquisition this year, he said ‘Good quality mortgage assets are available at the moment. We are interested in buying them.’Analsyts suggested the move may be a reaction to the prospect of the Lloyds Bank takeover of Cheltenham & Gloucester, which will make Lloyds the fifth largest home lender in the UK.Robert Villiers of UBS argues that size is vital in the mortgage market at the moment.

‘If the quality of the book is good, any rise in assets is quickly followed by a rise in profits. This is a very desirable purchase for the Halifax, giving it market share cheaply.’. A BRITISH Coal management buyout team has won backing from eight financial institutions in its attempt buy one of five regional packages of mines being offered for sale by the Government, writes Mary Fagan. The institutions, including Schroder Ventures, Barclays, Midland, NatWest Ventures and 3i, say they want to provide funds for the buyout team, but they have yet to commit cash.
The Northern Coal Company is headed by Alan Houghton, a regional director of British Coal. He is interested in the largest regional package of nine deep mines, including the Selby complex in North Yorkshire, and five opencast mines.More than 33 parties pre-registered to bid for all or part of British Coal.

Among them is Coal Investments, run by Malcolm Edwards, the former commercial director of British Coal. Other potential bidders include electricity firms, the Wimpey construction group and independent mining firms including Ryan and RJB Mining.Bidders, who are now examining figures on the mines, must submit their plans to the Department of Trade and Industry by mid-September. There is still uncertainty among potential buyers about liabilitiesthey might face over pollution and future redundancies.Separately, British Coal said it would sell its half of the Hyload polymeric sheeting company for pounds 4.6m to its partner, Ruberoid.. If you typed in a URL, please make sure you have typed it correctly.

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}. The Gothic facade of the Old Temple Meads Station in Bristol, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Grade I listed building was the first purpose-built railway station in the world.