Sarkozy holds pre-Budget meeting to avoid downgrade August 19, 2010 FRENCH President Nicholas Sarkozy will today attend an emergency meeting with finance minister Christine Lagarde and Prime Minister Francois Fillon to discuss the state of the French economy. The meeting comes ahead of the September Budget and shortly after Moody’s reaffirmed France’s Aaa rating but said that its “distance to downgrade” was shorter than it [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE UK ECONOMY PICKING UP AGAIN? August 19, 2010 GEORGE BUCKLEY | DEUTSCHE BANK Today’s news was generally stronger than expected. Retail sales grew faster than expected, broad money was up, the Budget deficit fell and the CBI’s manufacturing survey was encouraging. This should be positive for GDP. DAVID KERN | BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE There is no room for complacency. The economy is [...]
Essar finance chief quits to return to uni August 19, 2010 INDIAN FTSE 100 giant Essar Energy yesterday confirmed it is on track with aggressive growth plans in its domestic market, even as it sought to reassure investors over ongoing corporate governance issues. But the group was hit by a setback yesterday as it emerged finance director Gerry Bacon is to step down at the end [...]
An Indian growth story August 19, 2010 AFTER a shaky start, investors are finally seeing Essar Energy for the company it really is: a liquid, London-listed firm that is well-positioned to capitalise on India’s rapidly growing energy demand. Energy consumption will soar in India in future years: 45 per cent of households don’t have access to electricity, while those that do have [...]
Bank lending to UK businesses remains weak August 19, 2010 NET lending to British businesses fell for the fourth month in a row in June while mortgage approvals slumped to their lowest level in over a year last month, figures from the Bank of England showed yesterday. In its Trends in Lending report, the central bank showed that the net monthly flow of lending to [...]
Glazer family hit by higher interest rate August 19, 2010 Manchester United’s American owners saw interest payments on a loan taken out to refinance the club jump to 16.25 per cent this week after they failed to keep debt at an agreed level. The two per cent hike will see the club pay millions extra on a payment-in-kind (Pik) loan of more than £200m, which [...]
Dell, HP and Lenovo post mixed results August 19, 2010 TECHNOLOGY companies delivered mixed results on Wall Street yesterday, as computing heavyweights Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo posted large profits but missed some forecasts. Hewlett-Packard’s quarterly profit climbed 6.1 per cent on higher global sales and growth in the company’s core consumer market. The world’s biggest PC producer announced $1.77bn (£1.14bn) in pre-tax gains, up from [...]
Car sales slip for first time this year August 19, 2010 CAR production in Britain dropped by 8.9 per cent in July as the end of the scrappage scheme hit demand, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said yesterday. Production for the year-to-date was still 41.7 per cent higher than in the same period in 2009, SMMT said. Last month’s drop – with 98,000 [...]
Google prepares its rival to the iPad August 19, 2010 GOOGLE hopes to have an iPad rival on US shelves in time for Christmas, according to industry insiders. Analysts are already speculating that the device could be free with a lengthy contract with network provider Verizon. The tablet is likely to be manufactured by mobile phone maker HTC, the firm responsible for the critically-acclaimed Desire [...]
Search is on for successor of ousted HP boss August 19, 2010 Hewlett-Packard yesterday named headhunting firm Spencer Stuart to lead the search for a new chief executive following ousting of Mark Hurd. The former boss was forced to resign for inaccurate expense claims brought to light in the wake of sexual harassment allegations by former porn star Jodie Fisher. Spencer Stuart will consider both internal and [...]