City profiles
Daniel Hall
Litigation specialist Burford Capital has been in the headlines because of its war with hedge fund Muddy Waters, which maintains it is “arguably insolvent” – a claim angrily denied. Shares have already halved and now a $91m lawsuit, filed at the High Court by the Russian shipping group Novoship, has brought more unwelcome publicity, said the FT. A senior Burford executive, Daniel Hall – renowned as “a highpowered debt collector” who chases assets like yachts and luxury cars – is alleged to have exchanged “sensitive” documents obtained from Novoship (a former client) for a “sex tape” involving the US billionaire Harry Sargeant III, “whose assets he was investigating for another client”. Burford insists the case is nothing unusual. But it surely highlights “the high-stakes nature” of its business. The doyenne of Fisherman’s Friend is credited with turning a small business in Fleetwood, Lancashire, into a £55m “global operation exporting to more than 100 countries”, says Robert Watts in The Sunday Times. The famous lozenges were pioneered in the 1860s by pharmacist James Lofthouse who developed a menthol and eucalyptus mix for local fishermen to take on freezing North Atlantic trips. Doreen Lofthouse, 89, married into the family and joked that, back then, the Lofthouses “still thought Yorkshire was an export market”. The range now includes cherry and lemon versions. But, for many, “the first new flavour” (aniseed, launched in 1977) holds a particular distinction – the design was modelled on the buttons of one of Doreen’s dresses.