Retail sales dip in US May 13, 2009 US retail sales fell 0.4 per cent in April, dashing hopes that consumer spending was starting to revive and would help end the recession. Economists said families who are worried about layoffs and unpaid job furloughs are saving more and spending less, delaying the start of a sustained recovery. Retail sales had posted gains in [...]
DRIVING SHARES DOWN May 13, 2009 SHARES in ailing automaker General Motors (GM) tumbled to their lowest since the 1930’s yesterday, on the back of senior executives at the company selling off $315,000 (£206,000) of GM’s stock. Chief executive Fritz Henderson (pictured) said earlier this week the company was likely to file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
MPs rush to remedy row with cheques May 13, 2009 FORMER agriculture minister Elliot Morley was last night revealed to have claimed parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage that did not exist. Morley continued to claim for the mortgage interest on his constituency home for more than 18 months after the loan had already been paid off. This latest revelation is regarded as the [...]
Pub groups’ stocks plummet as MPs side with tenants on tie-in system May 13, 2009 SHARES in pub groups nosedived yesterday after the commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee recommended the tenant tie-in system should be referred to the Competition Commission.The tie-in model prevents pub tenants from taking beer supplies from other companies. Shares in Enterprise Inns yesterday plummeted by 26.4 per cent, while Punch Taverns stock fell by 13 [...]
Trinity sheds a third of its ad revenues May 13, 2009 TRINITY Mirror said yesterday that group revenues fell 18 per cent in the first 17 weeks of the year, dragged down by ad sales falls of 30 per cent. The Daily Mirror publisher gave a cautious outlook for the full year – but said it expects the combination of cost savings, operating efficiencies and robust [...]
Trinity sheds a third of its ad revenues May 13, 2009 Trinity Mirror Group, led by chief executive Sly Bailey, gave a cautious outlook for the year but said it expects the advertising decline to ease.
Johnston warns on banking covenants May 13, 2009 SHARES in publisher Johnston Press sank 38 per cent yesterday after the group issued a profit warning and said there was a “strong likelihood” it would breach its banking covenants. Johnston said it was in discussion with its banks to refinance its £448m net debt after it had abandoned the sale of its Irish titles [...]
STRICTLY SPANGLES FOR LOVELLS LAWYERS May 13, 2009 ACTOR Tom Chambers had better watch out: he’s got competition, from the somewhat unlikely quarters of the lawyer gang at Lovells. I hear almost 300 of the firm’s staff packed the ballroom at the City Grange hotel on Wednesday last week for their own version of the Beeb’s hit show Strictly Come Dancing, raising over [...]
TAKING THE MICKEY May 13, 2009 Just a few weeks ago, enraged Panmure Gordon chief executive Tim Linacre told The Capitalist he’d rather see Mickey Mouse running the country as Prime Minister instead of Gordon Brown, after the government infuriated the City by raising the top tax band to 50 per cent. And yesterday, after Gary Keogh bagged his allocated five [...]
MELT DOWN May 13, 2009 Speaking of Gordon Brown, there’s got to come a point when you have to feel a bit sorry for the man. Not only has Opposition leader David Cameron put him to shame with a ruthless response to the MPs expenses scandal, but even puddings named after him are proving unpopular in the extreme. Searcys 40/30, [...]