Eurozone posts trade surplus November 17, 2009 THE Eurozone unexpectedly posted a trade surplus in September, with exports expanding by a healthy 5.5 per cent on the previous month. Over the third quarter as a whole, exports rose by 3.7 per cent, the first quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2008. IHS Global Insight’s Howard Archer said: “The recent improving trend [...]
No cheer in US industrial data November 17, 2009 AMERICA’S recovery in industrial production may be running out of steam, according to figures for October released yesterday. Activity only rose 0.1 per cent on the month, which was entirely down to a weather-related 1.6 per cent rise in utilities output. The September figure was also revised downwards. Disappointingly, manufacturing output fell by 0.1 per [...]
Icap looks to grow abroad November 17, 2009 ICAP, the interdealer broker founded by Conservative Party treasurer Michael Spencer, said it would accelerate its international expansion after a dip in first half profit. Icap, the world’s biggest interdealer broker, is one of the few companies doing worse than last year, with pretax profit slipping five per cent to £166m. Icap, like its rivals, [...]
Lehman lawyers in attempt to claw back $10m from BarCap November 17, 2009 LAWYERS representing Lehman Brothers have filed a $10bn (£5.9bn) court case against Barclays Capital over assets transferred during Lehman’s bankruptcy. Alvarez and Marsal, the consultancy hired after Lehman filed for insolvency, wants to claw back ‘windfall’ profits it claims BarCap received after buying the New York group. Lawyers say the contract agreed in September 2008 [...]
T-Mobile admits that employee sold off private customer data November 17, 2009 AN EMPLOYEE of mobile phone operator T-Mobile is facing prosecution after selling personal details of thousands of British customers to rival companies in an alleged major breach of data protection laws. In a statement, T-Mobile UK, part of Deutsche Telekom, said it had contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after discovering an employee was passing [...]
WISH YOU WERE HERE November 17, 2009 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday said investment in a campaign to boost tourism in London had brought a £50m boost to the capital’s coffers. The Mayor, who spent £2m on the “Only in London” campaign, wants to pour a further £400,000 into the project. “We are working on a strong, recognisable and iconic identity to [...]
EasyJet warns of a tough winter ahead November 17, 2009 BUDGET airline easyJet yesterday warned the aviation industry is in for a tough winter as it revealed its pre-tax profit halved over the past year despite customers trading down to cheaper transport options. Reported pre-tax profit at the airline fell 50.4 per cent to £54.7m in the year to September, down from £110.2m in 2007, [...]
Small firms are revving Britain’s economic engine November 16, 2009 LAST week I found myself at a dinner with some leading businessmen, and a few journalists. It was held under Chatham House rules, so I’ll have to keep their identities to myself. There was, of course, the usual gloom over Gordon Brown, and a lack of confidence in his policies for the economy. On a [...]
Interserve gives a bullish outlook and builds hopes for future contract wins November 16, 2009 Building and maintenance group Interserve said yesterday that trading had been in-line with expectations since the end of June and that it had been included in a scheme that will allow it to bid for £4m-worth of new contracts. The group said that in the first half it had benefited from a “strong performance” in [...]
IBM aims high with new cloud computing service November 16, 2009 IBM has launched a new cloud computing service, in a bid to take on companies such as Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft. Cloud computing allows firms to run software and store information in remote data centers that can be accessed over the internet. IBM’s Smart Analytics Cloud will first be adopted internally. IBM, the world’s biggest [...]