Manufacturing activity at 15-year high February 1, 2010 MANUFACTURING activity expanded at its fastest pace in 15 years in January, according to a new survey. The CIPS/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index jumped to 56.7 last month from an upwardly revised 54.6 in December. It was the highest since October 1994 and well above analysts’ forecasts for a reading of 54.0. The improvement came [...]
Ryanair raises profit forecast February 1, 2010 BUDGET airline Ryanair increased its profit forecast for the year after posting a smaller than expected third-quarter loss. Europe’s biggest low-cost airline said a drop in fuel prices had helped to improve the company’s figures. Ryanair’s loss of €10.9m (£9.5m) in the three months to the end of December compared with a €118.8m net loss [...]
Bid battle breaks out for DFS stores January 31, 2010 SEVERAL private equity players are lining up for a bidding war over DFS, the furniture chain owned and chaired by Conservative party donor Lord Kirkham. European rivals Permira, Cinven and Advent International are in the running for the sofa superstore in a development that could steer it away from a mooted stockmarket flotation. The news [...]
Greek jibes anger Mandelson January 31, 2010 BUSINESS secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday dismissed Tory claims that the UK was facing a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis and accused the Conservative opposition of being “unpatriotic”. Mandelson’s comments came as Conservative leader David Cameron softened his stance on fiscal tightening, saying that he did not plan “swingeing cuts” immediately after the election. Cameron said that [...]
Think-tank: the price of homes to jump 20pc January 31, 2010 HOUSE prices are set to rise by a fifth in the next four years as mortgage availability improves and interest rates stay low, although 2011 is expected to be tough, a survey showed. Average prices should grow more than six per cent in 2010 before slowing next year and then rising again in 2012 and [...]
Tories in fast broadband plan January 31, 2010 A CONSERVATIVE government could use part of the BBC licence fee to fund the rollout of superfast broadband to the majority of homes by 2017. And the Tories pledged to end BT’s dominance of broadband by forcing it to give rivals access to its ducts, sewers, telephone poles and unused cables. Shadow culture secretary Jeremy [...]
Vast state payrolls will veto reforms January 31, 2010 MORE evidence of a growing public-private divide: 57 per cent of extra UK jobs created during 1997-2007 were either officially on the government’s payrolls or “para-state” – technically private but dependent on government funding. And that was before the private sector jobs bloodbath since 2008. Manchester University’s Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change calculates that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 31, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES US BANKS FACE INSIDER TRADING PROBE Neil Barofsky, the special inspector-general overseeing the US government’s financial rescue efforts, is to probe allegations of insider trading among bank executives and their associates. Eight of the largest banks in the US received between $2bn and $25bn in October 2008 under a programme to prop up [...]
Mayor urges end to bank bashing January 31, 2010 The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Nick Anstee, will tonight urge a new ‘social contract’ between the City and the UK public and will also challenge politicians to stop ‘banker bashing’. In a speech at London’s Guildhall, Anstee will address the breakdown of trust between the UK public and the City by asking politicians [...]
Darling blamed for Lehman fall January 31, 2010 Alistair Darling prevented a takeover of Lehman Brothers by Barclays because he thought it could hurt the British bank, according to former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson. Paulson makes the claim in his memoir On the Brink. He says that the Chancellor called him on 12 September 2008 – when the US authorities were desperately trying [...]