Brazilian finance minister calls for review of “excessive” austerity requirements for Greece August 9, 2013 Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega has told the Financial Times that the country would like the Greek rescue programmes to be reviewed and made more economically sustainable. The minister was attempting to explain the country’s stance on the issue after its representative at the International Monetary Fund Paulo Nogueira Batista abstained from a vote to [...]
French industrial production tumbles unexpectedly August 9, 2013 French industrial output unexpectedly plummeted in June, with national statistics body INSEE reporting a 1.4 per cent monthly fall following the previous month’s revised 0.3 per cent decline. Analysts had expected to see 0.1 per cent growth (release). Manufacturing fell by 0.4 per cent, falling 0.3 per cent year-on-year. The annual fall was driven primarily [...]
William Hill acquires loss-making Australian betting site for £20m August 9, 2013 William Hill, the world’s biggest bookmaker, has announced the acquisition of Australian online betting business Tom Waterhouse (tomwaterhouse.com) for an upfront cash consideration of A$34m (£20m). The bookie will also take on up to A$6m of balance sheet liabilities with the transaction and offered a potential additional earn-out of up to A$70m in cash if [...]
Tesco pulls out of independent Chinese operations amid growing regional competition August 9, 2013 Tesco has announced it will be ending its independent operations in China to embark on a joint venture with China Resources Enterprise (release). Tesco will merge 131 of its stores with 2.986 of CRE’s, taking advantage of the Chinese company’s “deep understanding of local customers, established nationwide infrastructure and proven track record as a partner [...]
HMRC catches just two of 20 most wanted tax evaders in a year of searching August 9, 2013 HM Revenue & Customs has published the names and photographs of the most wanted tax-dodgers in the UK. Ten new names have been added to the list this year (above), although just two of the original 20 (below) have been caught and one prosecuted. The tax authority published the data on its Flickr page. The [...]
Before the open – 09/08 – Asian rollercoasters August 9, 2013 Asian shares moved around a lot last night with most heading down towards the finish as mixed market signals drove prices. The Nikkei initially bounced back after days of losses last night on the back of a weakening yen against the dollar and good news from New York. However, it then fell after consumer confidence [...]
Booming births lift population August 8, 2013 THE BRITISH population is surging upward, with the largest number of UK births for 40 years registered between 2011 and 2012. The UK’s birth rate is steaming ahead of similar-sized European countries, like Germany and France, while London is by far the fastest growing area in the country. There were 813,200 births across the UK [...]
Sterling strikes 7-week high on Carney rule August 8, 2013 THE POUND yesterday jumped to its highest level against the dollar since June on the back of reforms to monetary policy announced by new Bank of England boss Mark Carney. Sterling climbed as high as $1.557 – sharply up from lows of around $1.521 in midweek – following Carney’s guidance over the necessary conditions for rates [...]
Fraud squad loses 32,000 pages of probe documents August 8, 2013 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office admitted yesterday that it accidentally sent 32,000 pages of evidence to the wrong person in the wake of its investigation into BAE Systems’ arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The SFO revealed that it took a year for it to realise the mistake, in the latest embarrassment for the fraud-fighting body. Officials [...]
Buy-to-let loans surge to 5-year high in fresh boom August 8, 2013 LENDING to buy-to-let landlords has soared to its highest level in nearly five years thanks to strong tenant demand and increased mortgage availability. Lenders advanced 40,000 mortgages worth £5.1bn in the three months to the end of June, up 21 per cent in value on the previous quarter and the highest since 2008, according to [...]