Battle lines drawn for pre budget report December 6, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling faces his toughest week yet at the helm of the Treasury as he prepares to deliver the 2009 Pre-Budget Report (PBR) to Parliament on Wednesday. He is likely to downgrade his forecast for 2009 GDP – admitting the UKshrank much more than he predicted – but City economists expect him to hold [...]
Business group says nothing should be untouched by cuts December 6, 2009 Britain’s fiscal position is unsustainable, the British Chambers of Commerce has warned, saying there should be no “holy cows” when it comes to making spending cuts in the pre-budget report. The business organisation said reform of the public sector must be the “cornerstone of a credible plan to reduce spending”, and urged the government to [...]
Tax rebate could ease UK out of recession December 6, 2009 A short-term tax rebate would help the UK out of recession, a report out today from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) think-tank will say. Ahead of Wednesday’s pre-Budget report, NIESR claimed a rebate of around one per cent of GDP would boost economic growth by 0.2 per cent next year. It [...]
WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING FROM THE PRE-BUDGET REPORT? December 6, 2009 MICHAEL SAUNDERS CITIGROUPThis would be a good time to detail a phased fiscal consolidation for the next few years. However we do not expect this to happen in the PBR. Fiscal policy in the PBR will aim to reinforce Labour’s pre-election political strategy, rather than to re-establish fiscal sustainability.SIMON HAYES BARCLAYS CAPITALThe report provides the [...]
Battle for the festive pound is under way December 6, 2009 THE high street price war has heated up as shops focus both on luring shoppers away from the internet and beating competition from neighbouring shops. London’s West End shopping district enjoyed its best trade for two years over the weekend as 2m shoppers flocked to a traffic-free Oxford Street, spending over £200m in one day [...]
Tesco takes the gloves off as Christmas price war hots up December 6, 2009 Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco has launched its most aggressive Christmas discount drive, designed to blow its upmarket rivals out of the water. The supermarket giant is slashing the prices of more than 200 products in its Finest range in a bid to stop shoppers defecting to Waitrose and Marks & Spencer for luxury food treats. [...]
Habitat set for a new home as management plans to go it alone December 6, 2009 HABITAT, the home furnishing retailer is set to be placed in the hands of its management after a lengthy battle for control with restructuring specialists Hilco. It is understood that new investors have agreed to back chief executive Mark Saunders and finance director Sebastian Drouillet to turn around the business after it was put up [...]
Rio and BHP seal deal December 6, 2009 MINING giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto shook hands on their proposed $116bn (£67.8bn) iron ore tie-up over the weekend, putting paid to reports that competition bodies would interfere with the deal. The agreement, which is expected to produce synergies of $10bn, has been a bone of much contention for Chinese customers, who say it [...]
Nothing to fear but over-optimism itself December 6, 2009 Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side.” The above quote comes not from one of [...]
CITY TYPES FANCY A FLUTTER ON RACE GAME December 6, 2009 AN ENTERPRISING businessman, a barrel-load of twenty quid tickets, the chance to win a lucrative prize of your dreams… sound familiar? It may well do, given ex-Nomura banker Andrew Paul’s recent venture selling tickets for the chance to win his mansion, Aston Martin and power boat, which is now going to be made into a [...]
