New car sales accelerated in August as the fleet sector stayed strong September 5, 2016 The UK's car buyers went haywire for hatchbacks and crazy for convertibles last month, figures published today have shown. The report, by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), showed new car registrations rose 3.3 per cent year on year in August – up from a measly 0.1 per cent rise in July. Some [...]
Pound bounces as services sector storms back to growth in August September 5, 2016 The pound jumped against the dollar in early trading in London after new figures showed the UK's most dominant sector stormed back into growth in August. Markit's purchasing managers' index for the UK services sector hit 52.9 in August, against expectations of 50.0, and up from July's 89-month low of 47.4. Considering any figure below 50 suggests [...]
Hole-y moley: Gatwick flights are back to normal after a hole was found in its runway September 5, 2016 Flights are back to normal at Gatwick Airport after its main runway was closed last night following the discovery of a "hole". A spokesperson for the airport said flights had been switched to the airport's substitute runway after a routine maintenance check found the hole, although the spokesperson was unable to go into detail about what kind of [...]
FTSE 100 ends the week tantalisingly close to 7,000, pushed up by pharma – as housebuilders regain losses September 2, 2016 The FTSE 100 ended the day at 6,894.6 points – 2.2 per cent higher, and within spitting distance of that 7,000 mark. The index was pushed up by pharmaceutical and mining stocks, with Hikma Pharmaceuticals leading the pack, jumping 5.2 per cent to 2,185p. That was followed by Unilever, which rose 3.8 per cent to 3,663p – [...]
Berkeley Group has suspended construction on a £20m housing scheme in Barnes September 2, 2016 Berkeley Group may have just dropped out of the FTSE 100, but that's unlikely to have stopped rival developers from keeping a close eye on its activities. Tony Pidgley, the company's founder, famously called the top of the London housing market during the recession. Now he's taken the decision to, er, stop building a small [...]
Dollar bounces back after US non-farm payroll falls to 151,000 in August September 2, 2016 The number of new job openings in the US fell to 151,000 in August, down from 255,000 the month before – missing economists' expectations of 180,000. Unemployment held at 4.9 per cent, figures published today showed – against expectations of a fall to 4.8 per cent. The disappointing figure pushed the dollar 0.4 per cent down against the [...]
Marks & Spencer pay row: M&S makes new offer to workers – but campaigners say it isn’t enough September 2, 2016 Could this be the end of the long-running pay row between Marks & Sparks and its workers? Evidently not: the retailer today announced it had finished consulting with staff over pay, but campaigners don't think its conclusions are enough. In a statement today M&S said after a "thorough consultation" with its national employee representative group, it was offering [...]
FTSE-listed housebuilder share prices have tumbled after McCarthy & Stone’s gloomy Brexit outlook September 2, 2016 Just when we thought things were beginning to look up, housebuilder shares uniformly drooped this morning, after retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone presented a gloomy outlook about the impact of Brexit. Persimmon was the biggest faller among the FTSE 100-listed builders, dropping 2.9 per cent to 1,815p in mid-morning trading. That was followed by Berkeley [...]
Asos vs Assos: Asos just paid out £20m to settle a trademark dispute September 2, 2016 In the battle of Asos vs Assos, there were only ever going to be two winners. Online retail giant Asos announced today it had settled a trademark dispute with Assos of Switzerland, a high-performance cycle wear manufacturer and German menswear retailer Anson's Herrenhaus. Asos said it will pay a total of £20.2m in cash to Assos and [...]
