Bond supremo El-Erian to step down at Pimco January 21, 2014 PIMCO, the $2 trillion dollar fund management behemoth, last night announced the surprise resignation of high profile chief executive Mohamed El-Erian, one of the world’s most famous financiers. El-Erian, who also acts as co-chief investment officer (CIO) alongside fund veteran Bill Gross, will leave the group in mid-March after 15 years at the business. Gross, [...]
Sun, sand and snow: Dubai’s open-air winter wonderland January 21, 2014 DUBAI, the desert state where luxury comes as standard and temperatures can easily soar over 40 degrees centigrade, is set to get its first snow-lined streets in an ambitious building project. Developers have broken ground on the Heart of Europe, part of a string of islands made from reclaimed land off the Dubai coast that [...]
IMF backs down from UK criticism as forecast hiked January 21, 2014 THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has flipped its position on the UK economy, confirming a large positive revision to its forecast for this year’s economic growth. Having criticised chancellor George Osborne for “playing with fire” only eight months ago, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said yesterday that the recent recovery is sustainable, explaining the IMF’s [...]
It’s time to embrace deferred gratification and to start saving January 21, 2014 WOW. We knew that the pension crisis was bad – but in reality it’s even worse than that. The situation is catastrophic: the average pension pot is just £36,800, and many people have nothing at all. On current paltry annuity rates, that is just enough to generate a retirement income of a miserable £1,340 a [...]
UK bosses are most confident in the world January 21, 2014 BOSSES of British companies are the most confident in the world, with nine out of ten chief executives confident in their own company’s growth over the next 12 months. The high level of confidence extend to bosses’ views of the global economy, with six out of ten UK executives believing that the economy will improve [...]
Skill shortage of staff revealed January 21, 2014 SHORTAGES of skills are growing in some key sectors of the economy, despite the fact that unemployment is still much higher than before the recession. A report released this morning by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) find that difficulties in hiring are spreading from sectors like health and engineering into construction, hospitality and education. [...]
Phones 4 U ponders float January 21, 2014 HIGH street mobile phone retailer Phones 4 U could be considering a £1bn public float later this year as private equity owner BC Partners examines its options for the business. BC Partners has not yet appointed advisors for a potential float and people close to the firm said that discussions remain at a very early [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 22 January 2014 January 21, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Bicycle-Sharing firm in bankruptcy The Canadian company that runs the popular bike-sharing schemes in New York, London and Sydney has gone bankrupt, after two US cities withheld Ca$5.6m (£3m) in payments amid widespread software glitches. Yesterday Denis Coderre, mayor of the city Montreal, which owns the Public Bicycle-Sharing Company, said the business was [...]
Watchdog hits back over claims from Npower January 21, 2014 REGULATOR Ofgem today blasted Npower’s breakdown of energy bills, calling its data on network costs “incorrect and misleading”. The big six firm’s new report said that energy network distribution costs would rise by 22.7 per cent between 2013 and 2020, adding £58 on to the average annual duel-fuel bill. “Suppliers control less than 20 per [...]
Over a quarter of younger Brits are still living with their parents January 21, 2014 OVER a quarter of British adults between the ages of 20 and 34 were living with their parents last year, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Around 3.3m young people are living in their parental homes, a rise of 669,000 since 1996 even though the number of people in the age [...]
