Consumers’ borrowing drops and fewer seek remortgaging June 23, 2011 CONSUMERS are borrowing less and repaying more on debts, data from the British Banking Association (BBA) revealed yesterday. Unsecured credit contracted by 1.2 per cent in the year to May, while net credit card borrowing measured a modest £73m in the month – the weakest rate of borrowing on plastic for this year. “Demand for [...]
Rising number of Americans file claims for unemployment benefit June 23, 2011 THE number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose higher than expected last week, suggesting little improvement in the labour market this month after employment stumbled in May. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, the Labor Department said yesterday. Economists had expected claims to come in [...]
PRICE PRESSURES PERSIST IN SINGAPORE June 23, 2011 INFLATION in Singapore is proving more stubborn than expected, holding up at 4.5 per cent in May, official data showed yesterday. Higher food, housing and transport costs drove up the island state’s consumer price index. The consumer price index looks set to overshoot forecasts of 3-4 per cent targeted by Singapore’s authorities for 2011.
Go-Ahead ups forecasts on high demand June 23, 2011 BUS and train operator Go-Ahead said yesterday that its profit had been given a further boost as more motorists take public transport because of fuel price rises. Go-Ahead, which has a fleet of 3,800 buses and is part of a joint venture responsible for Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail services, said its buses represented [...]
Nissan predicts a better than expected profit June 23, 2011 NISSAN Motor forecast a better-than-expected 14.4 per cent fall in annual operating profit yesterday, defying a quake-induced setback in the past few months and projecting another year of record sales. Japan’s number two automaker forecast an operating profit of 460bn yen (£3.57bn) for the year to March 2012, above an average forecast of 432bn yen. [...]
Swedish carmaker Saab says it can’t afford wages June 23, 2011 LOSS-MAKING Swedish carmaker Saab said yesterday it couldn’t pay its employees wages as it had not obtained the short-term funding it needs. Unions for workers at Saab, which has made losses for the last two decades, said they would send a formal demand for payment on Monday if their members had not received their wages [...]
AirAsia inks £11bn deal with Airbus June 23, 2011 AirAsia thundered into the Paris Air Show with a record order for 200 revamped A320neo jets on Thursday — an $18.2bn (£11bn) deal that makes the Malaysian firm Airbus’s largest airline. AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes, who is also trying to invest in West Ham, flew into France overnight to sign off on what one Paris [...]
Arena says it is considering sale June 23, 2011 THE UK’s largest racecourse operator Arena Leisure yesterday confirmed it is considering a sale of the company. Last year billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben raised their stake in Arena Leisure to a level just shy of 30 per cent, which was expected to trigger a takeover bid for the company. It is thought [...]
Vale scraps its plan to sell shares in its fertiliser arm June 23, 2011 BRAZILIAN miner Vale said yesterday it has scrapped plans to sell stock in its fertiliser division, and now aims to take the unit private by buying up the share it does not already own. Vale plans to pay up to 2.2bn reais (£870m) to buy out minority investors of Vale Fertilizantes, whose main asset is [...]
Cost cuts help revenues at Norcros June 23, 2011 British shower and tile maker Norcros said its full-year profit tripled helped by demand for new products and cost cuts. Adjusted pre-tax profit for the year ended 31 March was £10.2m, compared with £3.4m in the year-ago period and revenue rose 15.6 per cent to £196.1m. Norcros said it would pay a final dividend of [...]