Siemens chief won’t be forced into Alstom bid May 7, 2014 GERMAN engineering giant Siemens yesterday unveiled a long-awaited strategic overhaul of the business and said it would not be forced into a bidding war with US rival General Electric for the energy assets of France’s Alstom. Siemens has been working on a restructuring plan after issuing a series of profit warnings last year, which led [...]
Nintendo enters the red as Wii U sales stall prompting £135m loss May 7, 2014 JAPANESE game maker Nintendo ended the last business year with its third straight loss, but yesterday said new video games would revive sales and return it to profit. Nintendo’s Wii U console missed projections shipping only 2.72m units, far short of Nintendo’s original 9m projection, due to a paucity of games for the console, sending [...]
Home sales up despite low supply May 7, 2014 THE HOUSING market’s upswing showed no signs of subsiding last month, with the average homes sold for each chartered surveyor at the highest level since 2008, according to a report published this morning. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the imbalance between demand and supply in residential property worsened last month. Despite [...]
City A.M. shadow MPC votes 7-2 to hold rates May 7, 2014 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. Recent business surveys suggest that growth is not only still strong, but may even be accelerating. The wage squeeze is ending, unemployment’s on the way down and the emergency that brought in ultra-loose monetary policy is long over. Bank rate should be increased by 0.5 percentage points. JAMES SPROULE INSTITUTE [...]
Pressure to raise rates building May 7, 2014 OUR PANEL of experts stuck to their guns this month, suggesting that interest rates should stay on hold, but the economists are increasingly saying that a rate hike will be needed in the near future. Several members who did not vote for immediate rate hikes noted the prolonged period of economic growth, and the pressure in [...]
Independent Scotland would be too small to rock the pound May 7, 2014 RESEARCH released today suggests that if an independent Scotland kept the pound, its size would give it minimal or no influence over monetary policy. A report published by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) suggests that given the size imbalance between Scotland and the rest of the country, any such arrangement would [...]
Dreary April as Bric economies dip May 7, 2014 ALL FOUR of the Bric economies recorded some mild contraction in their private sectors last month, according to an influential survey of businesses released today. According to HSBC’s latest emerging markets index, firms in Brazil, Russia, India and China all reported a modest drop in business activity, with scores slightly below the neutral 50 level. It [...]
EasyJet is developing drones to help keep its planes in top form May 7, 2014 EASYJET is helping to develop new drone technology that can be used to inspect its fleet of planes. The airline said yesterday it is working with the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, CopterCraft and Measurement Solutions to modify an unmanned drone for trials within the next few months. “The drones will be programmed to scan and assess [...]
TRIG on track to issue dividend May 7, 2014 The Renewables Infrastructure Group, the London-listed renewable energy infrastructure investment firm, yesterday said it had made a “solid start to 2014 in terms of operational performance” and is on target to declare an interim dividend of 3p per share for the six months to 30 June 2014. The investment team are currently evaluating more opportunities [...]
Kirkland’s output meets targets May 7, 2014 Aim-listed miner Kirkland Lake Gold yesterday said full-year gold output had hit 122,309 ounces, which is a 34 per cent increase on the previous year and meets the company’s revised guidance. “These full year production numbers are a good result and together with lower costs, more efficient use of labour and the expansion project now [...]
