Porvair raises profit forecasts June 26, 2012 Filtration and environmental technology firm Porvair yesterday raised its earnings expectations as profits shot up by 48 per cent in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profits at the firm were £2.4m in the six months to 31 May. Porvair expects the coming six months to be helped by a strong order book and [...]
Squeezed middle most affected by falling incomes, figures show June 26, 2012 THE MIDDLE fifth of households experienced the sharpest drop in average incomes according to a recent year’s data published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Disposable incomes flopped by an average of 4.3 per cent for the so called squeezed middle between 2009-10 and 2010-11 – a fall of £1,100 per household. Across [...]
UK heading for time bomb over housing benefit June 26, 2012 LOWER rates of home ownership are set to cost the government an extra £8bn a year in housing benefit, a think-tank said this morning. Once today’s generation of renters retire, there will be 3.45m pensioners claiming housing benefit by 2060, the Strategic Society Centre (SSC) has calculated. In today’s prices, these claimants will cost the [...]
Third month of US home rises… June 26, 2012 US HOUSE prices rose again in April, while consumer confidence dipped further, according to data published yesterday. The S&P/Case-Shiller house price index rose 0.7 per cent in April, marking the third consecutive month of gains. Prices are still down 1.9 per cent on the year, but this beats the 2.6 per cent fall in the [...]
…as OECD calls for work plan June 26, 2012 THE LONG spells many Americans are spending without work risk leaving a lasting scar of higher unemployment on the US economy, the OECD warned yesterday. In its biennial report on the US economy, the OECD said the unemployment rate which the economy could sustain without generating inflation was 6.1 per cent, up from 5.7 per [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 26, 2012 Mayer Brown Andrew Block has been appointed as a partner in the pensions group of the law firm. He was previously a partner at Travers Smith, and started his legal career at Linklaters. Block acts in occupational pension scheme matters. He will be based in Mayer Brown’s London office. Manches The law firm has announced [...]
BEST of the BROKERS June 26, 2012 SHIRE Societe Generale has upgraded the pharmaceutical giant from “hold” to “buy” with a reduced target price of 2,192p from the previous 2,310p. Despite the US regulator approving a generic competitor for the company’s Adderall XR drug last week, the broker does not expect multiple generics to be approved from here, so continues to see [...]
FTSE slides on banking shares and scepticism over EU leaders’ summit June 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares dipped into negative territory in a lacklustre session yesterday, hampered by banking stocks, with market movements likely to remain muted ahead of a summit of European leaders later in the week. While a two-day summit in Brussels on 28-29 June was very much the market focus, traders pointed to an element of [...]
US stocks rise after upbeat property data June 26, 2012 MAJOR US stock indexes bounced back yesterday, but trading was light with the outlook clouded by doubts before yet another summit to tackle the European debt crisis. US stocks partly recovered from losses of more than one per cent on Monday, led by housing shares after stronger-than-expected data on home prices. The consumer discretionary sector [...]
Useless PR has turned NatWest’s woes into a corporate nightmare June 26, 2012 FOUR years ago, Stephen Hester was CEO of British Land. Not a company many people know of, let alone its boss. But today, not only is Hester running RBS – one of Britain’s best known banking groups and owners of NatWest – he is a household name. First it was his salary, then it was his [...]
