Mortgage approvals drop September 29, 2010 Mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to a seven-month low in August and net consumer credit unexpectedly contracted, official data showed. The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 47,372 in August, down from 48,346 in July and broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts and a weaker industry survey last week. Consumers unexpectedly made a [...]
LSE sees equities traded surge by 12 per cent September 29, 2010 London Stock Exchange said the value of equities traded was up 12 per cent on the year, maintaining market share in its key business, but volumes declined in the second quarter. The LSE was boosted by its Italian subsidiary Borsa Italiana, which saw traded equities rise by 20 per cent. Average daily value traded for [...]
Moss Bros plots return to profit September 29, 2010 Menswear retailer Moss Bros posted a wider first-half loss but said trading was improving under a new management team. The group, which also runs the Cecil Gee and Savoy Taylors Guild chains and the British franchise of Hugo Boss, said it made a pre-tax loss of £3.3m for the six months to 31 July. That [...]
Smiths Group warns over government defence cuts September 29, 2010 British technology company Smiths Group said tighter government spending would affect its sales growth and it would therefore focus on squeezing more costs out of the business to improve margins. Smiths’ customers include the US Department of Defense, the UK Ministry of Defence and airports operator BAA. “The economic environment remains uncertain and delivering sales [...]
BA seals alliance with American Airlines and Iberia September 29, 2010 British Airways, American Airlines and Spanish carrier Iberia have signed off on a long-awaited strategic alliance that will see them cooperate on flights between Europe and North America. “The joint business will launch this October,” British Airways said in a statement. “It will … enable the airlines’ alliance Oneworld to compete on an equal footing [...]
HSBC pledges to stay in London September 29, 2010 Top executives at HSBC Holdings Plc said there are no plans to move the bank’s headquarters from London, as they gathered for their regular board meeting amid a surprise shake-up in the corporate suite of Europe’s largest bank. “We haven’t reached a decision on whether to move the headquarters or not. If we ever come [...]
Ed Miliband: I’m no union puppet September 28, 2010 ED Miliband yesterday tried to distance himself from the unions who funded and supported his leadership campaign, insisting he would not support a wave of public sector strikes. In his first major speech as Labour leader, Miliband warned trade unions that “irresponsible” industrial action would alienate the public. He said: “I have no truck, and [...]
Posen: We need QE to start again September 28, 2010 QUANTITATIVE EASING (QE) must be restarted if Britain is to avoid persistent high unemployment and economic stagnation, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Adam Posen said yesterday. In a speech delivered in Hull yesterday, Posen was the first MPC member to call explicitly for a second round of QE. His comments put him [...]
Auditor calls for shake up September 28, 2010 GRANT Thornton, the fifth largest audit firm, has urged the government to review the market share held by the big four accounting firms in a bid to reduce threats to the financial markets should one of them fail. In a submission to the House of Lords’ inquiry into auditors, and as reported by the Financial [...]
Never trust UK economic statistics September 28, 2010 IT is becoming impossible to decipher what is happening to the economy, for one simple reason: the data is of terrible quality. Take yesterday’s revised second quarter GDP figures, unchanged at 1.2 per cent growth. But their composition has been completely revamped from when the first edition of the figures were released a few weeks [...]