Bottom Line: Tesco results to show the rise of discounters December 1, 2013 TAKE note, Tesco. Britain’s biggest supermarket, which is expected to post a drop in like-for-like sales of around 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, has been caught napping by Lidl and its discount peers in recent months. Tesco has rolled out extra price cuts and special offers as it tries to win back the market share [...]
Osborne talks down Mayor’s inequality line December 1, 2013 CHANCELLOR George Osborne has distanced himself from comments made by Boris Johnson on low IQ and economic success. In an interview yesterday, the BBC’s Andrew Marr asked if Osborne shared the Mayor’s thoughts on equality, adding: “Boris Johnson said we can’t have equality because so many of us have IQs below 80, and that’s bad [...]
Drop HS2 pet project, government told December 1, 2013 A LEADING think tank has criticised the government’s plans for HS2, calling it an expensive pet project that “should be canned”. Liberal leaning CentreForum released a report into the UK’s infrastructure projects today and warned that current schemes are “unrealistic and unaffordable”. “I’m clear that pet projects such as HS2 should be canned. We can’t [...]
Troika bails on Greece meeting as 2014 budget doubts emerge December 1, 2013 THE TROIKA of Greece’s international lenders will delay a visit to Greece that was planned for this week, casting doubt over the country’s 2014 budget. Over the weekend, finance minister Yannis Stournaras confirmed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) would put off a planned meeting in Greece. The [...]
ArcelorMittal in debt-fuelled $1.5bn steel buy December 1, 2013 STEEL magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the man behind London’s Olympic Park sculpture, yesterday said his firm ArcelorMittal will stump up just $250m (£153m) of equity in a $1.5bn deal to snap up ThyssenKrup’s US steel unit. The company, which is the world’s biggest steel producer, announced on Friday it had bought the US plant for $1.55bn [...]
Fortnum & Mason to open its first overseas branch in Dubai December 1, 2013 FORTNUM & Mason is opening its first foreign shop in the shadow of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. The retailer will stock its famous hampers and install tea rooms in the three-storey Dubai store, which is due to open at the end of February. While Fortnums has dozens of overseas stockists, the firm [...]
City names join forces for new comms agency December 1, 2013 THE FORMER PR chief of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the ex-communications director of Heathrow Airport are teaming up to launch a new communications business, it was announced yesterday. Andrew Wilson, who was head of group communications at Royal Bank of Scotland and currently at WPP, will join forces with former BAA-man Malcolm Robertson [...]
Housing supply still restricted as booming demand raises prices across the country December 1, 2013 DESPITE renewed activity in the property market, the number of houses for sale in the UK has actually fallen over the past six month, according to a new survey of estate agents and surveyors. Figures released by Hometrack today show that, in the six months to November, the supply of housing for sale fell 0.6 [...]
UK exports to pick up as rich world recovers December 1, 2013 BRITAIN will increase its sales to traditional trading partners in the rich world over the next decade, reversing the trend of recent years, according to forecasts out today from EY’s Item Club. Sales to China and Brazil will start to slow down as the market matures, but will still see healthy growth. But despite the [...]
Major industries primed to grow December 1, 2013 BOTH manufacturing and services are set to continue growing into next year, according to a series of reports on the state of the British economy released this morning. The UK’s factories will see stronger growth than the wider economy during 2014, according to manufacturers’ body EEF, and accountancy firm BDO. The organisation found that firms [...]
