Latest news with #IanBull
South China Morning Post
13-05-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
From radio dog's body to a big mover and shaker in Hong Kong disco
I WAS BORN IN Tidworth Military Hospital (in southern England) in 1956. My father was a medical orderly during the 1956 Suez Crisis and I was conceived on a rooftop in Benghazi (Libya) and flown back to England to be born. My father was doing his National Service. He later went to London Bible College. My maternal grandparents had a wonderful little house in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, where my brother and younger sister were born. Much later, in 1974, my youngest sister was born. My father graduated around 1963 and became a vicar. He was ordained in York Minster and we moved to York, where he became a curate. He wanted his family to see the world so he joined as a chaplain in the British Army. The Reverend Ian Henry Bull, chaplain to the forces. Ian Bull with his children, a young Andrew (centre), Rosemary and Simon, in 1961. Photo: courtesy Andrew Bull WE WENT TO GERMANY and he had his own plane and he would fly off to various parts of Westphalia. After various postings in Germany we got sent to British Guiana, which was the most magical experience when you're eight or nine years old. My brother and I were at boarding school in Yorkshire and we were unaccompanied minors. I had to take my brother to South America from England three times a year. And the and he had his own plane and he would fly off to various parts of Westphalia. After various postings in Germany we got sent to British Guiana, which was the most magical experience when you're eight or nine years old. My brother and I were at boarding school in Yorkshire and we were unaccompanied minors. I had to take my brother to South America from England three times a year. And the BOAC Junior Jet Club 707 used to stop at seven places including Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua and Trinidad before we got to Atkinson Field in British Guiana. I WAS ABOUT NINE when we lived on a sugar-cane plantation. We had a wonderful white house on legs and in the evening we would be allowed to stand at the window and watch the bats before going to sleep under a mosquito net. Next door we could hear the West Indian families listening to steel band music and dancing. There was a lot of calypso in those days. I could hear them making this happy noise, and that affected me. It stayed with me, that I would always like to be responsible for making that noise. Andrew (far left) and his family at St Martin's Church, Shek Kong, welcoming his youngest sister, in 1974. Photo: courtesy Andrew Bull IN 1971, MY FATHER was posted to Hong Kong for two years. I was 14 and I just remember the smell as you came in the early evening. The aroma of dai pai dong food, the honking and the strange vibe – it made an immediate impression. My parents lived in was posted to Hong Kong for two years. I was 14 and I just remember the smell as you came in the early evening. The aroma of dai pai dong food, the honking and the strange vibe – it made an immediate impression. My parents lived in Shek Kong , in the New Territories, in a garden-fringed mini-villa. My father was the chaplain at St Martin's Church, Shek Kong, and he was responsible for the 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade . They had something called BFBS, which was the British Forces Broadcasting Service . It was on the air three hours a day, from 7pm to 10pm, and it was only in Nepalese. I WORKED THERE as an intern, doing all sorts of odd jobs. Every evening for the broadcast there would be a concrete bunker with a transmitter in it, in a field. There was no air conditioning and the transmitter used to overheat all the time. So someone had to sit on one of those Chinese folding chairs, and then throw the switch on the transmitter every time it tripped. That was my job, which I did while listening to Hindi film tunes. Andrew Bull, aged 19, in the Radio Hong Kong studio in Kowloon Tong. Photo: courtesy Andrew Bull
The Independent
11-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Domino's Pizza serving up over another 50 stores in 2025 after profits rise
Domino's Pizza has said it plans to open more than 50 stores this year as it cheered a return to delivery growth in 2024. The London-listed takeaway pizza chain reported an 8.4% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £107.3 million on a 52-week comparable basis, with adjusted like-for-like system sales edging up by 0.7% thanks to improved trading over the year. In the final three months, like-for-like sales rose 3%. It saw delivery orders return to growth, up 2.4% over the full year, while collection orders nudged up by 0.5%. The firm opened 54 stores across the UK and Ireland in 2024 and said it plans to expand with over another 50 in 2025. Domino's cautioned over an 'uncertain economic environment' but said sales had continued to rise in the first 10 weeks of the new financial year, with system sales up 2.4% and like-for-like sales remaining 0.7% higher. The group added that it remains on track to meet analyst expectations for underlying earnings to lift to £146.4 million in 2025, up from the £143.4 million reported last year, which was 6.4% higher than 2023. Domino's said: '2024 was the year when we returned delivery to growth, and in the current environment we see an opportunity to drive further growth in collection orders in 2025 through value-based marketing campaigns.' 'Our brand and market positioning continues to strengthen and we have a number of initiatives, from the next phase of our loyalty trial to exciting menu innovation, which will improve our customer proposition and drive growth in the system,' it added. On a statutory basis, Domino's said pre-tax profits fell to £124.9 million in the 52 weeks to December 29, down from £142.3 million for 53 weeks in 2023. Andrew Rennie, chief executive of Domino's, said the firm's 'trading momentum accelerated as the year progressed'. He added that '2025 has started positively in an uncertain market'. The group also named Ian Bull – former chief financial officer at pub and brewer Greene King and betting giant Ladbrokes – as its new chairman, replacing Matt Shattock when he steps down in April.
