Record low for food inflation March 2, 2010 FOOD PRICES are increasing at their slowest annual rate in three years thanks to the falling cost of fresh food according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC)-Nielsen shop price index published today. Food prices were just 1.3 per cent higher on a year earlier in February compared to an annual increase of 2.9 per cent [...]
Pimco: Action not talk is needed on fiscal deficits March 2, 2010 IT IS not good enough for indebted governments to talk about reducing the fiscal deficit, they must take action if they are to retain investors’ trust in their sovereign debt, Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s biggest mutual fund at Pacific Investment Management (Pimco) said yesterday. “Action is required to maintain or regain trust [...]
Construction activity still contracting March 2, 2010 ACTIVITY in Britain’s struggling construction sector continued to fall in February but the rate of the decline was one of the weakest during the two-year period of contraction, a leading market survey revealed yesterday. The CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index posted 48.5 during February, which was only fractionally lower than the previous month’s 48.6. This is [...]
Britons are at their most optimistic in two years as economy starts to grow March 2, 2010 BRITONS are at their most confident in two years with expectations about the future the highest level on record, the Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index for February will show today. This second consecutive rise puts the index at 80, its highest level since January 2008, and almost double the level recorded during the same period last [...]
Australian central bank hikes interest rates again March 2, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S central bank raised its cash rate by 25 basis points to four per cent yesterday and flagged further hikes ahead, saying a surprisingly strong recovery allowed it to move policy toward more normal settings. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens said: “With growth likely to be close to trend and inflation close [...]
Persimmon is back in black as sales rise March 2, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon swung back into profit last year after writing up the value of its landbank by almost £75m. Pre-tax profits came in at £77.8m compared to a £780m loss in 2008 when lower property valuations took their toll as the sector was ravaged by the recession. The UK’s largest housebuilder completed 8,976 homes last [...]
Pace profits from rise of HD March 2, 2010 SET-TOP box maker Pace reported an astonishing 168 per cent rise in profit for 2009 yesterday as demand for high definition TV soared. The results make it the second biggest seller of the boxes worldwide, behind only Motorola, overtaking France’s Thomson. And chief executive Neil Gaydon says the World Cup could help drive sales even [...]
What a remarkable turnaround March 2, 2010 PACE has spent the last 28 years quietly building set top boxes for pay-TV firms. After the explosion in satellite TV in the late 1980s, it probably thought its high-growth days were behind it; at the start of the last decade, it was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. That’s why yesterday’s results – which [...]
Informa focuses on hosting big events after weathering worst of recession March 2, 2010 MEDIA group Informa’s cost cutting measures cushioned the worst effects of the tough trading conditions it faced in the last year. The firm, which holds conference events and publishes academic material, said bookings for large exhibitions were improving after a drop in demand during the recession. Its revenue fell organically by 14 per cent in [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW SIGNIFICANT IS PERSIMMON’S UPTURN? March 2, 2010 RACHAEL WARING | PANMURE GORDON “These figures are pretty good and helped by the fact that Persimmon is in a position where it can write up the value of its landbank. However, for the housebuilding market as a whole things don’t look so good, with uncertainty over the election and in the economy as a [...]