Fears of double-dip ease on services rise October 5, 2010 British services activity growth rose unexpectedly in September from a 16-month low, but the outlook is poor with the weakest inflow of new business in over a year, a survey showed yesterday. The figures are unlikely to alter expectations that the Bank of England will keep its ultra-loose policy stance unchanged later this week and [...]
Bernanke says it’s too early to cut deficit despite growth October 5, 2010 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday warned against taking immediate action to reduce the US deficit warning it could derail the nascent recovery. “Economic conditions provide little scope for reducing deficits significantly further over the next year or two,” Bernanke told an audience in Rhode Island. “Indeed, premature fiscal tightening could put the recovery at [...]
Eurostat may revise Greece’s 2009 deficit October 5, 2010 EU statistics agency Eurostat may revise upwards Greece’s 2009 budget deficit but this will not significantly impact this year’s fiscal gap, a senior official at Greece’s finance ministry said yesterday. “Even if there is a significant revision for 2009, the impact on the 2010 deficit will be very small,” the official, who did not want [...]
PETTIGREW CALLS ALL ABOARD FOR STEAM RIDE October 5, 2010 IT was all aboard at Tower Pier last night as City bigwig Jim Pettigrew added an unusual venture to his impressive CV, which includes stints at Marks and Spencer, CMC Markets, Icap and, in his current role, Aberdeen Investment Managers. Pettigrew played host as fellow City figures arrived to experience his latest venture: the relaunch [...]
Sportech in £51m deal for US bets firm October 5, 2010 FOOTBALL pools operator Sportech yesterday completed a £51.4m acquisition of US-based gaming group Scientific Games Racing (SRG) and said it was looking to further expand its presence in the country. SGR’s parent company, Scientific Games Corporation, now holds a 19.9 per cent stake in Sportech, under the terms of the deal. The acquisition will transform [...]
Central London homes hit as summer lull takes a toll October 5, 2010 HOUSE prices in central London fell for the first time in 18 months in the third quarter of the year, the property firm and chartered surveyor Cluttons said yesterday. Prices fell 0.2 per cent, reversing a 0.9 per cent increase in the previous quarter, as demand for property weakened and the number of properties offered [...]
FSA mortgage plans would have left 4m without loans October 5, 2010 NEARLY four million homeowners would have been denied a mortgage between 2005 and 2009 under affordability proposals put forward by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. It said that amounted to over half of all loans during the period not being granted to potential borrowers, despite the fact [...]
Tui gains from collapse of smaller rivals October 5, 2010 TUI Travel yesterday released what an analyst described as a “real humdinger” of a trading statement for August and September as it took advantage of the collapse of some of its smaller rivals. Europe’s largest travel firm said holiday bookings for winter and next summer were encouraging and said net debt should fall by more [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO Y0U THINK OF TUI’S TRADING UPDATE? October 5, 2010 WYN ELLIS| NUMIS Demand has held up well over the summer and TUI appears to be encouraged by the apparent return of consumer confidence. Additional restructuring is required however, notably at Corsair (possibly£60m) and in the UK (around £20m). High levels of exceptional costs are a sadly recurrent feature. CHRIS ALEXANDER| BNP PARIBAS This morning’s [...]
Superwoman Horlick sets up film finance firm October 5, 2010 BRAMDEAN Asset Management, the investment company run by the City fund manger once dubbed superwoman, Nicola Horlick, will launch a film development company today. Derby Street Films is seeking £2m from private investors to develop books and potentially television programmes into movies. Horlick said the company planned to develop 25 films over the next three [...]