Food safety scares in Asia hit Mcdonald’s February 9, 2015 MCDONALD’S, now led by British businessman Steve Easterbrook (pictured), yesterday reported a steeper-than-expected drop in January sales at established restaurants and pinned a big portion of the blame on food safety scandals in China and Japan. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 1.8 per cent in January, the company revealed.
Balls: Markets alone won’t deliver for UK February 9, 2015 INTERVIEW Labour’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls discusses markets, exports and business backing with David Hellier IT’S BEEN a bit of a bruising few days for those in the Labour Party charged with finessing its relationship with the UK’s top business leaders. But that won’t stop Ed Balls relishing the prospect of speaking at the British [...]
Opec reveals oil demand is set to grow in 2015 February 9, 2015 BRENT crude oil was up slightly yesterday, to around $58 a barrel, after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) projected that global oil demand will go up over the next 12 months. Demand for Opec crude in 2015 was revised up by 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) from the previous month’s assessment, to average [...]
Obituary Andrew Rosenfeld February 9, 2015 PROPERTY developer and key Labour party donor Andrew Rosenfeld has died, aged 52, after a short illness. The news was revealed yesterday by commercial mobile network operator The People’s Operator, which stated that its chairman had died on Sunday. The company, which Rosenfeld floated on Aim last year, said “the thoughts of everybody involved with [...]
Lloyds takes on Santander February 9, 2015 LLOYDS Bank is sending customers notifications to encourage them to gain cashback on purchases, as it battles with rival Santander to win more current account holders. Santander’s 123 account is winning the battle for customers using the seven-day switching service, by offering cashback and a relatively high rate of interest on deposits. while Lloyds’ sister [...]
MacKenzie set for sports radio February 9, 2015 MEDIA entrepreneur Kelvin MacKenzie is in the running to launch a new national sports radio station to steal the crown of his former enterprise Talksport. MacKenzie, best known for editing The Sun newspaper at its peak, is teaming up with his Talksport co-founder Jason Bryant to launch SPORTS Radio next January. It will enter the [...]
Shoppers spend petrol savings on new clothes February 9, 2015 BARGAIN-HUNTING British shoppers splashed out in January, transferring their savings from lower food and petrol prices towards other spending, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said today. Total retail sales in January were up 1.6 per cent on the year, with food up 0.2 per cent and non-food sales up 2.7 per cent Clothing, toys and household [...]
PayPal and Shell partner up for mobile payments at the pump February 9, 2015 Mobile payments are coming to the petrol pump from April as part of a partnership between PayPal and Shell to enable drivers to pay directly on their smartphone when filling up at Shell’s nearly 1,000 UK petrol stations. Using either the Shell motorist app or the PayPal app drivers can select the station and pump [...]
French firms’ confidence up February 9, 2015 FRENCH GDP growth should pick up this quarter as businesses are increasingly confident, the Bank of France said yesterday. Its sentiment indicator among manufacturers rose from 97 to 98 this month, closing in on its long-term average level of 100. The services index stayed at 91. The Bank of France expects economic growth to pick up to [...]
German trade surplus grows February 9, 2015 LOW OIL prices helped drive Germany’s current account balance to a record high in 2014, official figures showed yesterday. Exports rose 3.7 per cent over the year, outpacing imports which increased two per cent. As a result the surplus rose to €215bn (£160bn), equivalent to 7.5 per cent of GDP. The figure also underlines the sustained [...]
