Housebuilder Bellway enjoys strong sales June 8, 2012 Housebuilder Bellway announced today that it had enjoyed a “resilient” spring selling season, with visitor levels and reservation rates having surpassed expectations. This successful period meant that Bellway’s target set at the beginning of the financial year of achieving 5 per cent volume growth is now “secure”. Reservations increased following the introduction of government scheme [...]
UBS “rogue trader” granted bail June 8, 2012 Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, who is accused of unauthorised deals that cost the Swiss bank $2.3bn (£1.5bn) has been granted bail at Southwark Crown Court. Adoboli, who denies charges of fraud and false accounting relating to the loss, was arrested last September. He was previously denied bail in February. Friday’s bail application was heard [...]
easyJet passenger growth accelerates June 8, 2012 Budget airline easyJet has announced that it carried 5,423,726 passengers in May, an increase of 14.4 per cent on the same month last year. This allowed it to boast a load factor – how full its planes are – of 88 per cent, an increase of 3.9 percentage points. The firm’s rolling totals show 56,884,857 passengers [...]
GSK extends deadline on Genome bid June 8, 2012 GlaxoSmithKline has extended its $2.6bn offer to buy long-time partner Human Genome Sciences until the end of June as it battles the US biotech company’s reluctant management. The price remains unchanged at $13 a share under the longer tender, which will now expire at 5 p.m. New York time on 29 June, Britain’s biggest drugmaker [...]
Demonstrations threaten fuel supply June 8, 2012 Britain’s fuel supplies may be disrupted after workers at an Essex oil refinery threatened to demonstrate on Monday in an attempt to convince the government to save the plant. The move comes after administrator PwC, which been handling the sale of the Coryton plant, indicated the difficulty of finding a potential buyer for the threatened [...]
Biggest rise in car sales in two years June 8, 2012 A jump in private demand drove a 7.9 per cent rise in British new car sales in May compared to a year ago, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Friday, in a sign that consumers are regaining confidence. The overall percentage increase – which resulted in 162,288 new car registrations last month [...]
Betting on England weak says top bookmaker June 8, 2012 Betting fans have abandoned England in the run-up to this year’s European Championships, according to a top bookmaker. Despite two successive English victories against Norway and Belgium, England fans seem to have little faith in their team’s ability to clinch the European title. Coral have received ‘very few’ bets on England triumphing this summer whilst [...]
John Lewis boosted by Jubilee June 8, 2012 John Lewis enjoyed a sharp rise in weekly sales as shoppers splashed out on food and fashion to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and take advantage of better weather. The employee-owned retailer has had a run of strong weekly sales increases, albeit at slower rates in recent weeks, even though official data showed overall UK [...]
Banks and miners lead FTSE lower June 8, 2012 Miners and banks led the FTSE down in early trading as investors shunned riskier assets and ran for cover as global economic growth stutters. The fall tracked losses on Wall Street yesterday and Asia overnight despite an initial boost after China cut its interest rates in an attempt to accelerate its growth. But US Federal [...]
Antigone is astute but star disappoints June 8, 2012 THEATRE ANTIGONE The National Theatre | By Steve Dinneen *** Christopher Eccleston is theatre gold – the kind of name guaranteed to sell out a run. He has certainly chosen a cracker in Antigone: an expertly crafted play that’s as politically astute as it is deftly choreographed. Unfortunately – and surprisingly, given his excellent track [...]
