House prices inched higher in June, says Land Registry July 28, 2010 HOUSE prices in England and Wales rose 0.1 per cent on the month and 8.4 per cent on the year in June, figures from the Land Registry showed yesterday. The government agency said the average price of a home was now £166,072. House prices are now around the same levels that they were in the [...]
ECB gets tough on bank lending July 28, 2010 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) yesterday unveiled a tougher stance on lending, subjecting banks to more stringent penalties for borrowing from the ECB using more risky assets as collateral. Banks in Greece, Portugal, Spain and other heavily indebted parts of the Eurozone have been locked out of normal bank-to-bank lending markets during the most turbulent [...]
Durable goods orders drop July 28, 2010 NEW orders for US manufactured goods such as cars and planes fell unexpectedly for a second straight month in June, in a sign that the economic recovery cooled in the second quarter. However, the Commerce Department report on durable goods showed that cash-rich businesses continued to invest in equipment. This implied that underlying demand remained [...]
BAT increases its dividend in a flying start July 28, 2010 BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) yesterday hiked its dividend by nearly a fifth after a better-than-expected start to the year. The world’s second-largest tobacco group declared an interim payment of 33.2p a share, up 19 per cent on the 27.9p it paid at the same stage last year. Revenues in the first six months of the [...]
William Hill names new chair July 28, 2010 WILLIAM Hill has appointed Gareth Davis as its new chairman. Davis, who recently retired as chief executive of Imperial Tobacco Group after 14 years in the role, will take up his new job from 1 September. He joined Imperial Tobacco in 1972 as a management trainee and undertook various roles in the business, including managing [...]
Aldi’s co-founder Theo Albrecht dies July 28, 2010 THEO Albrecht – one of the founding brothers of the Aldi grocery chain – has died at the age of 88. Albrecht had a personal fortune of more than £10bn. He died in his home city of Essen, on Saturday. Together with his brother Karl, two years his senior, he built up Europe’s biggest budget [...]
Carphone Warehouse in boost from smartphones July 28, 2010 CARPHONE Warehouse said demand for smartphones would help it cope in a muted consumer environment, as it beat quarterly revenue forecasts and hailed a strong debut for its new megastores with US partner Best Buy. The company, which also owns a 47.5 per cent stake in Virgin Mobile France, is benefiting from surging demand for [...]
DSGi tips iPad as the Xmas gift to fly off the shelves fastest July 28, 2010 APPLE’S iPad has been tipped to be this Christmas’s best-selling gadget, according to Currys and PC World owner DSGi. The company, which owns 670 stores in the UK, said Apple’s tablet computer will top the list of desirable gifts during the festive season. DSGi predicts that hi-tech gadgets will be the must have items. Jeremy [...]
Virgin Media eyes buyback of its shares July 28, 2010 VIRGIN Media will buy-back up to £375m of its shares as confidence in its cable business rockets. The firm posted better-than-expected second-quarter results, buoyed by signing up an extra 9,100 customers during the notoriously tough trading period. This was compared with a loss of almost 28,000 customers a year ago and a company consensus for [...]
LSE’s Indian adventure gives hope for future July 28, 2010 Stock exchanges continue to be a hot topic for debate both in the City and the wider global markets. Global equity issuance may be at its lowest point since 2005, with just $309bn (£198.2bn) raised in the first half of 2010 as sovereign debt fears weighed heavy, but interest in market developments and competition remains [...]