Caledonia Investments acquires UK’s fourth largest caravan park operator November 11, 2013 On Monday it was announced that UK investment trust, Caledonia Investments had acquired caravan park operator Park Holidays UK. Park Holidays owns 21 freehold and two leasehold caravan parks concentrated in the south of England and is the UK's fourth largest caravan holiday operator, generating £2.5m of profit before tax, with gross assets of £256.5m. [...]
Why Spain’s financial future is rosier than Italy’s November 11, 2013 Spain's fiscal prospects are brighter than Italy's, says Capital Economics' European economist Ben May. Although Italy's budget deficit is a fair amount better than Spain's, and the latter still faces some tough economic challenges, Spanish public finances are, in other respects, in something of a "healthier position". The medium-term outlook for the public finances remains "pretty [...]
Barratts Shoes enters administration (again) November 11, 2013 UK high street shoe store Barratts, which employs 1,035 people in the UK, has gone into for the third time in four years. Duff & Phelps, who have been appointed as administrator, said: At this stage redundancies and/or store closures cannot be ruled out. In view of the financial position of the company and withdrawal [...]
M&S Indian expansion to see country become second largest market November 11, 2013 Marks and Spencer has confirmed today that it plans to build a "leadership position" in India, as part of its strategy to become a leading international and multi-channel retailer. Chief executive Marc Bolland said that India is a "priority market" for M&S. The company already has 36 stores in India and the plans will see [...]
Help to Buy “already delivering” says David Cameron as second phase sees over 2,000 applications November 11, 2013 Help to Buy is gathering momentum. This morning both RBS and Halifax reported strong uptake of its second phase, which was launched a month ago. 2,384 applications have been put in, totalling £365m of new mortgage lending. On average, households have asked to borrow around £155,000 for houses worth about £163,000. The UK average house [...]
Unemployment to fall to 7.6 per cent says Capital Economics November 11, 2013 Capital Economics expects unemployment to fall by 50,000 to 7.6 per cent. In anticipation of Wednesday's labour market figures, the London-based consultancy's November labour market monitor said a fall in unemployment could reinforce markets belief that interest rates will rise sooner than the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) anticipates. Capital Economics, writing on Monday, said: Since [...]
Italian industrial production misses expectations in September November 11, 2013 Italian industrial output rose by 0.2 per cent in September, marginally below analysts' estimates of a 0.3 per cent rise. Thing are looking up from August, however, which saw a revised 0.2 per cent decline. On a full-year basis, the index decreased by 3.0 per cent in September. In the period January-September of this year, [...]
Low-cost airline Flybe to slash 500 jobs but shares soar as profits grow November 11, 2013 Exeter-based airline Flybe announced on Monday its intention to cut 500 jobs, despite reporting pre-tax profit of £13.8m. Shares have rocketed this morning, up over thirteen per cent at pixel time. The company, which employs 2,700 staff, has already suffered 490 redundancies in 2012/13 and a further 100 in the first half leaving in 2013/14. [...]
RSA biggest FTSE faller in early trading after news of Irish probe November 11, 2013 Shares in insurance group RSA plummeted sixteen per cent this morning, taking it to the top of the FTSE 100 fallers, following its announcement of the launching of an independent review of its Irish business. RSA have said that the issues go back at least two years. At the beginning of last week, the FTSE [...]
Cobham to see revenue fall in wake of US budget conditions November 11, 2013 UK based defence and aerospace supplier Cobham expects revenue to decline by low-to-mid single digits in 2014, after having previously forecast modest growth. The group made the forecast in its interim management statement. Cobham cited the probability of deteriorating US budget conditions, which would have significant impact on the US defence market, as cause for [...]