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Plain English campaign

鈥淏alfour Beatty warns on profit鈥� was the headline across most business papers last week, after the UK鈥檚 biggest contractor told the City that 鈥減rofitability in 2012 will be slightly lower than expected鈥� - to be precise around 拢10m lower. The surprise announcement saw the industry behemoth鈥檚 share price tumble 16% on the day鈥檚 trading. Yet deputy chief executive Andrew McNaughton insisted the firm had not, in fact, issued a profit warning at all. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 give a profit warning,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat we advised is that one piece of our business is marginally below the expectation for the year. We did not give a profit warning.鈥� Asked if he would concede that it was at least a profit warning for the construction services business, he said 鈥渘o鈥�, adding that it was a matter of 鈥渟emantics鈥�.

Popping down the tube

Commuters on the London Underground will be familiar with the poor quality of retail outlets for travellers. But this could be about to change. An industry source tells me Transport for London (TfL) is considering introducing virtual grocery stores in tube stations. Such shops are already popular in South Korea, where Tesco subsidiary Homeplus offers commuters the chance to browse virtual aisles in stations and scan groceries they want with their phones, which are then delivered to their homes. TfL told me it was 鈥渓ooking at ways to improve the retail offering for our customers鈥�.

Tradesmen鈥檚 entrance

An interesting yarn reaches me from an insider involved in the refurbishment of one of the West End of London鈥檚 most valuable office blocks, Devonshire House in Mayfair. The grand building was one of the first major property acquisitions by the late founder and chairman of Land Securities Lord Samuel, who had office space in there for a time. The team overhauling the building has discovered an old entrance and lift which - rumour has it - was once for Lord Samuel鈥檚 sole use. As part of the refurb the disused entrance is now being opened up to the building鈥檚 other occupants. I somehow doubt current Land Securities chair Alison Carnwath insists on the same lift privileges.

Too many tweets?

The UK arm of architect Wilkinson Eyre has had a fairly solid year financially, as their accounts published last week show. But among the typical figures for profit, revenue, staff numbers and so on, accounts director Jim Eyre felt it worth mentioning a metric rarely seen in financial accounts 鈥� the practice鈥檚 number of Twitter followers. Readers were told @WilkinsonEyre has a respectable 1,000 followers and counting. I鈥檓 not sure what bearing this has on the firm鈥檚 financial health - but could this be the start of a trend?

Jolly good fellow

Prince Charles has become an honourary fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and, accepting the honour, said he was pleased to join an institution committed to 鈥渟ustainable development鈥�. Given his difficult relationship with architects seems to have improved in recent years, can an offer of honourary membership of the RIBA be far behind?