News
CONSTRUCTION in the Eurozone fell 1.7 per cent in March, adding further doom and gloom to the region’s economic outlook.
The largest decline came from Portugal, down 10.7 per cent on the previous month.
THE NIKKEI rose to a five and a half-year high today, benefitting from yesterday’s promising GDP growth.
The index gained 0.7 per cent to 15,138.12, the highest closing since December 2007.
DUTCH bank ABN AMRO today announced that it plans to slash 400 jobs after first quarter profits plunged 17 per cent.
The state-owned bank is looking to cut costs and streamline its commercial and merchant banking operations.
SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons and online grocer Ocado today announced that they have entered a 25-year deal, following weeks of discussions which investors were uncertain would come to fruition.
BORIS Johnson has failed to convince Whitehall that he should be given control over suburban rail services in London, with civil servants in the Department for Transport fighting a rearguard action to block his bid for control of routes into Liver
ULTRA-LOW interest rates risk harming rather than helping the economy, top central bankers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday, in stark contrast to the Bank of England’s view that loose policy is still best.
LLOYDS should make a profit this year, its first since the bank collapsed and was bailed out at the height of the financial crisis, the group’s chief told shareholders in Edinburgh yesterday.
IS THERE something badly wrong with our absurdly complex and loophole-ridden tax system? Yes. Should it be reformed and simplified to minimise avoidance? Yes.
GOLD sank to a four-week low yesterday, as investors continue to lose faith in the precious metal following this week’s dip below the $1,400 an ounce barrier.
Spot gold was at $1,385.18 last night, down more than 0.4 per cent.
HEATHROW’S role as the UK’s central hub for air travel was undermined yesterday after an influential commission said airline alliances could base themselves at alternative airports without hitting passengers.
GLENCORE Xstrata shareholders yesterday appointed former BP chief executive Tony Hayward as interim chairman of the group, ousting industry veteran John Bond from the role sooner than expected.
BUILDING activity across London has more than trebled since its low in mid-2010, booming to a four-year peak, data showed yesterday.
RESIDENTIAL building in England fell 14.5 per cent between January and March against the previous year, data from the Department for Local Government and Communities show.
NUMBER 10 has admitted that manipulating oil prices is not currently a criminal offence and is looking to make changes to the law, following an EU probe into price fixing that has rocked the industry this week.
MICROSOFT co-founder Bill Gates regained his crown at the world’s richest person yesterday, the first time he has held the title since 2007. His fortune is now estimated at $72.7bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
PC MAKER and takeover target Dell slid further away from prosperity yesterday after a downturn in computer sales halved quarterly profits.
NEARLY four million people came to England and Wales in the ten years between 2001 and 2011, according to official census data released yesterday.
RBS will cut another 1,400 staff over the next two years, the taxpayer-backed lender announced yesterday, joining HSBC which is slashing up to another 14,000 roles, and Lloyds, which is mid-way through a scheme to cut 15,000.
THE TAXMAN did not let investment bank Goldman Sachs off a £20m interest bill on old tax payments, the High Court declared yesterday, kicking out a case brought by campaigners.
GOOGLE’S head of northern Europe tried to downplay claims the internet giant is avoiding tax in Britain yesterday, telling MPs the firm is “very clear about how we operate”.
CAMPAIGNERS against the High Speed 2 rail link said yesterday a new report highlights the economic failures of the scheme.
CREDIT-RATING agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday cut its rating on Berkshire Hathaway, the insurance and industrial conglomerate controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, one notch, citing the company’s reliance on its insurance opera
HOLIDAY company Thomas Cook’s shares rocketed yesterday as it unveiled a £1.6bn capital restructuring that clears the path to resuming dividend payments within the next two years.
THOMAS Cook’s £1.6bn recapitalisation plan received a massively positive reception yesterday in the City where the once battered holiday group’s shares rose 13.4 per cent from the previous day’s close.
SHARES in troubled insurer Aviva rose 7.2 per cent yesterday as investors reacted positively to signs that the company could be on the mend.
ABID HUSSAIN SOCIETE GENERALE
INSURANCE giant Prudential yesterday saw a small shareholder revolt over executive pay levels, as 11 per cent of investors voted against the company’s remuneration report at its AGM.
THE BIGGEST trade surplus in the history of the Eurozone was recorded yesterday, following the return of France and the Netherlands to recession this week.
MOST investors in Eurozone banks now realise governments are serious in withdrawing their support from banks, according to a Fitch study published yesterday.
PRIVATE consumption, industrial production and growth all rose by 0.9 per cent in a strong first quarter for the Japanese economy.
US DATA continued to point to soft spots in the recovery, yesterday.
The number of new houses that began to be built in the year to April slumped to 853,000, down 16.5 per cent on March’s estimate.
ASDA posted a 1.3 per cent rise in first quarter underlying sales yesterday, as price reductions and its online offering proved popular with shoppers.
THE CHIEF executive of the UK’s oldest private equity company 3i yesterday said he was mystified about a latent bid by vulture fund Sherborne Investors to wrest control of the firm.
SPENDING on the National Lottery has hit an all-time high as cash-strapped consumers hope to get lucky. The lottery’s operator Camelot revealed yesterday that £7bn had been spent in the 12 months to 31 March, a 6.9 per cent rise.
SIR PETER Bazalgette, a former executive at Big Brother creator Endemol, has joined ITV’s board as a non-executive director.
DIXONS Retail, Europe’s second-biggest electrical goods retailer, impressed investors yesterday as it said full year profit would be at the top end of market expectations, and posted a seven per cent rise in fourth quarter underlying sales.
THIS time last year, shares in Dixon’s were languishing around the 14p mark, mired in the retail gloom that soon saw its key rival Comet wiped out, swiftly followed by Jessops.
THE UK’S fourth-biggest mobile phone network, Three, has opened up the possibility of accelerating its rollout of next-generation 4G networks, a move that would reduce the headstart enjoyed by its rivals.
TALKTALK has upped the stakes in the battle for TV customers, saying that more people are signing up for its burgeoning pay-TV platform than for any of its rivals’ services.
Vodafone has signed a deal with Deutsche Telekom, the German company, which will allow it to sell high-speed internet and TV services in the country.
Pitcher and Piano bar owner Marston’s said recent sales had improved as it posted an expected fall in profit following a weather-hit first half of the year.
The UK digital publisher advertising market grew by 16.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, a much faster level of growth than previously seen.
VIRGIN Atlantic said yesterday its annual losses have widened to £93m, blaming the Olympics for denting demand for business travel.
BRITISH haulier Stobart Group posted a 12 per cent rise in annual operating profit yesterday, and said it hopes a new contract with Tesco will help it move on from a “turbulent” year.
TROUBLED card insurer CPP yesterday lost its chief executive, finance director and managing director as the company prepares to cut hundreds of jobs as part of a severe restructuring plan.
TRINITY Mirror revealed a 10 per cent fall in sales for the year to May yesterday, but cheered investors by saying the decline had tailed off.
RICHEMONT’S chairman and founder will take a year off from September, leaving the world’s second largest luxury group in the hands of recently-named joint chief executives at a time of faltering growth in the industry’s key market of China.
UK oil services firm Petrofac yesterday said it expected modest growth in net profit this year after its books were hit by the shutdown of the In Salah gas plant in Algeria following an attack in January on the neighbouring In Amenas plant.
