Consumer confidence unchanged November 3, 2009 The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index remained unchanged in October, staying level at 72 points, data from Nationwide will show today. The news comes a day after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said consumer confidence was at its highest level for 18 months. Nationwide said that there were some small adjustments to consumers’ perceptions of current [...]
London firms ready for growth November 3, 2009 More than two-thirds of London businesses are preparing for growth, despite expecting the effects of the downturn to last until late 2010 or early 2011, a new survey will say today. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Enterprise Survey will show that 68 per cent of businesses are planning to grow [...]
JPMorgan reorganises teams November 3, 2009 JPMORGAN Chase’s recently named investment bank head Jes Staley is putting his stamp on the unit with a reorganisation that combines its various fixed income businesses under two co-heads, according to an internal memo. The move brings the bank, which last month reported a bumper $3.6bn (£2.2bn) third-quarter profit – largely driven by its fixed [...]
Swiss Re wows investors with third quarter profits November 3, 2009 SWISS Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, saw its stocks rise the most in over three months yesterday, after it beat analyst expectations in its third-quarter profit. Net income hit SFr334m (£199m) as property and casual earnings were boosted by fewer catastrophe claims. In its previous year, the Zurich-based company made a SFr304m loss, and analysts [...]
Boots backs boss Hornby as sales jump November 3, 2009 ALLIANCE Boots, Britain’s biggest pharmacy chain, yesterday said that it was on track to beat current trading expectations after reporting a jump in sales at its Health & Beauty and wholesale divisions. Chief executive Andy Hornby, who formerly ran near-failed bank HBOS?and supermarket Asda, announced the good news as he unveiled his set of results [...]
Rolls Royce disappoints in its interim trading update November 3, 2009 SHARES in engine-maker Rolls Royce fell yesterday after the company’s interim trading update disappointed investors. The company said that “trading activity across the group’s businesses remains in line with expectations,” but it added that while revenues would grow in 2009, underlying profits would be flat compared to the previous year. Evolution Securities repeated its “sell” [...]
Myths and reality of the bank shake-up November 3, 2009 AS predictably as day follows night, the myth-making machine spiralled out of control again yesterday. Perhaps the biggest is that the UK banking system is uniquely concentrated. As Citigroup research reveals, this simply is not so: overall UK banking system concentration (using the World Bank’s measure of assets of the biggest three banks as a [...]
REVOLUTION ON THE BANKING HIGH STREET – KEY POINTS November 3, 2009 ASSET PROTECTION SCHEMERBS:• Will receive a £25.5bn capital injection from government: £13bn upfront; £6bn of discretionary capital; and £6.5bn in a fee taken as capital.• Toxic assets placed in the APS cut from £325bn to £282bn.• RBS must cover first £60bn – not the £42bn that was first envisaged?– of losses on toxic assets in [...]
Czechs sign up to the EUtreaty November 3, 2009 EU banking supremo Neelie Kroes might be an all-powerful figure as she carves up some of Britain’s largest banks – but her successor will have a lot more clout. With Czech President Václav Klaus adding his signature to the Lisbon Treaty yesterday, the EU is set to have even more powers over Europe’s financial system. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 3, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INDIA SOLD ON GOLDGold surged to an all-time high after India bought 200 tonnes of the precious metal, swapping dollars for bullion as the finance minister warned the economies of the US and Europe had ‘collapsed’. India’s decision to exchange $6.7bn for gold equivalent to eight per cent of world annual mine production [...]