Brit Insurance turns up heat on Apollo with £48m profit July 25, 2010 BRIT INSURANCE, the Lloyd’s of London reinsurer, will turn up the heat on US private equity suitor Apollo on Wednesday when it says it bounced back into first-half profit. Brit, which sponsors the England cricket team, is expected to say it generated a pre-tax profit of £48m in the six months to June compared with [...]
Pay for IT staff in hedge funds surging because of regulations July 25, 2010 PAY for IT staff working in hedge funds and asset managers has surged 13 per cent in the last six months as businesses face extra pressure to comply with banking regulations. The figures, from a survey by ReThink Recruitment, also reveal some funds are increasing their IT staffing by more than 50 per cent. Post [...]
Interest rates will be low for long time yet July 25, 2010 INTEREST rates will need to stay at their historic low of 0.5 per cent until 2014 to offset the coalition government’s ambitious austerity measures, leading economic forecaster the Ernst & Young ITEM club will say today. Though consumer price index (CPI) inflation will remain above target over the next 18 months, it will be necessary [...]
Consumers lose confidence as job worries persist July 25, 2010 CONSUMER confidence has dipped for the first time in more than a year, according to an official survey. The quarterly poll for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) asked consumers how they felt about their job prospects and personal finances. It showed the confidence index fell two points to 78 in the last three months – [...]
Hometrack survey adds to evidence of a double-dip in the UK housing market July 25, 2010 HOUSE prices fell for the first time in 15 months in June, according to the monthly Hometrack national housing survey published today. The survey showed that house prices fell by 0.1 per cent last month, trimming the annual increase to 2 per cent, mostly as a result of slumping demand and a flood of properties [...]
Three-quarters of small firms confident in growth July 25, 2010 SMALL businesses are increasingly confident in their trading despite wavering growth, claims research out today. Almost three-quarters feel positive about conditions in the last three months, compared to 63 per cent at the start of the year. However, average turnover dropped from a two-year high last quarter, figures compiled by Bibby Financial Services said. One [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WAS SECOND QUARTER GDP AS GOOD AS IT WILL GET? July 25, 2010 HETAL MEHTA | E&Y ITEM CLUB “The second quarter is likely to represent the high point as fiscal tightening and a renewed slowdown in global activity constrains a more robust recovery. This preliminary estimate does not radically change the basic picture of a patchy recovery that will only pick up speed gradually.” SIMON HAYES | [...]
The father of the UK’s transport business sees recovery on the way July 25, 2010 Stagecoach’s chief executive Brian Souter has seen it all in the 30 years since he founded the bus and rail operator – but even he admits the industry is undergoing a difficult period. The transport sector, which is only just emerging from a painful recession, is about to face more pain. Chancellor George Osborne’s emergency [...]
Russia prepares for giant sale of assets July 25, 2010 RUSSIA is understood to be planning its biggest sell-off of state assets since the early 1990s as it seeks to raise over $29bn (£18.8bn) to plug budget gaps over the next three years. According to finance ministry sources quoted by Reuters, the plan to sell minority stakes in 10 major companies in 2011-2013 had been [...]
Time to embrace carbon trading opportunity July 25, 2010 REDUCING carbon emissions is a long-standing objective within the European Union for obvious reasons. But, given the current economic climate, policy makers are now stressing the need for the UK to move to a low carbon economy not only to protect the environment but also to foster long-term, sustainable growth to help our country recover [...]
