Retail sales mixed in July August 10, 2009 SPENDING on home improvements and seasonal clothing clearances boosted retail sales in July. According to figures published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) today, retail sales values rose by 1.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis compared to the previous July. On the three-month weighted average of May to July, like-for-like retail sales values rose [...]
Collins Stewart hiring again ahead of market upswing August 10, 2009 FINANCIAL services group Collins Stewart will today announce a number of high-profile new hires alongside its interim results, as new chief executive Mark Brown beefs up the group’s core businesses to take advantage of opportunities in the current market turmoil. Most of the hires will be to the securities division, though the group has also [...]
BEER TODAY, GONE TOMORROW August 10, 2009 LIVERPOOL Football Club looks set to end its 17-year partnership with Danish brewers Carlsberg at the end of the 2009/10 season. Carlsberg and the club have not been able to reach an agreement on a new shirt sponsorship deal, with the Reds looking to double their price from the last time the deal was extended. [...]
UK house prices seen rising August 10, 2009 STRONG growth in buyer enquiries and price expectations improved to their highest level since April 2007, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will reveal today. Their latest market survey showed that only 23 per cent of surveyors reported a fall in house prices over the last three months, taking the net balance to -9 [...]
FSB: Use Rock to end the banks’ credit monopoly August 10, 2009 THE government should consider using Northern Rock as a “people’s bank”, operating via the post office network, to increase the flow of credit to small firms, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said yesterday. The FSB said that the state support offered to banks had allowed them to develop a “monopoly” on providing businesses with [...]
ABI disputes Myners’ plan for investors August 10, 2009 INVESTOR bodies last night launched a fresh attack on City minister Lord Myners, following his suggestion that shareholders should be able to buy and sell their voting rights. The comments from Myners are the latest in a string of radical proposals designed to increase shareholder power. “Some shareholders who never vote could sell their voting [...]
Heathrow T2 to get a refit August 10, 2009 AIRPORT owner BAA yesterday unveiled plans for a £1bn refurbishment of Heathrow’s Terminal 2, which will allow capacity at the depot to grow by 11.5m to around 30m passengers each year by 2019. The environmentally friendly refurbishment (pictured), part of a £4.8bn investment at the airport in west London, will house airlines belonging to the [...]
China backtracks on new Rio claims August 10, 2009 CHINESE officials yesterday distanced themselves from an earlier report claiming miner Rio Tinto had been engaged in “commercial espionage” against China’s steel mills for six years. A website with links to China’s State Secrets Bureau had said at the weekend that Rio had been spying Chinese businesses as well as inflating iron ore prices which [...]
London worst for job losses August 10, 2009 LONDON saw the steepest rate of job cuts in July according to Markit’s UK regional purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) published yesterday. The survey showed employment levels were falling at their fastest pace for five months, registering 39.9 on the PMI employment index compared to the UK average of 43.6. Tim Moore, economist at Markit, said: [...]
Tories link with Google on NHS August 10, 2009 THE TORIES said yesterday they will make huge savings in the NHS by scrapping government plans for a central database of patient records, and replacing them with a more flexible system hosted by Google or Microsoft. Every patient will be able to update their records with information like blood pressure and cholesterol levels via personal [...]