Barclays takes £1bn hit on insurance claims May 9, 2011 Barclays is to take a £1bn provision to cover compensation for people who were mis-sold certain insurance policies, the bank said. Barclays and the country’s other banks will also drop a planned appeal against an earlier court ruling which had made them liable to the compensation claims over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). [...]
Salmond’s momentum sets course for independence May 9, 2011 SO Scotland is on the road to independence. There are many who say it will never happen, but they are the same people who said the SNP would never be the largest party in the Scottish Parliament, let alone win an outright majority. They are the people who said that devolution would kill off all [...]
UK says “No” to voting change May 6, 2011 UK voters have rejected a change to the voting system. More than 9.8m people voted to keep the first-past-the-post system, more than 50 per cent of the votes cast, the BBC said. Counting continues but the No vote is set to get 69 per cent support, meaning a decisive rejection of a move to the [...]
US employment increases May 6, 2011 US employment increased more than expected in April as private companies created jobs at the fastest pace in five years, pointing to underlying strength in the economy, even though the jobless rate rose to nine per cent. Nonfarm payrolls rose 244,000 last month, the most in 11 months, the Labor Department said. The private sector [...]
Kraft to raise food prices May 6, 2011 Kraft Foods has warned it will increase its product prices because of higher raw material costs. The Cadbury owner, which also produces Oreo cookies and Philadelphia cheese, made a first quarter profit of $799m (£488m). Kraft reported a strong start to 2011. Most of the commodities that Kraft uses to make its products have risen [...]
AIG profit fall triggered by natural disasters May 6, 2011 Insurance giant AIG has reported a fall in profits because of loan repayments and natural disasters. American International Group (AIG), was hit hard when it lost $1bn (£610m) from its ongoing operations in the last quarter of the year. The firm also losr $864m after the 11 March earthquake in Japan, according to Chartis, its [...]
Security and rescue services cleared over 7/7 deaths May 6, 2011 A coroner formally ruled on Friday that the 52 victims of the 2005 London suicide bombings were unlawfully killed, but cleared the security and rescue services of any responsibility for the deaths. Lady Justice Heather Hallett also ruled out any more inquests or inquiries into the worst-ever peacetime attacks on British soil. She said the [...]
Admiral revenues up 50pc in first-quarter May 6, 2011 Admiral Group revenues rose by more than 50 per cent in their first quarter. The car insurer, and owner of Confused.com, said year-on-year turnover also grew by 56 per cent to £539m in the first three months of the year. Shares were pushed to 4.4 per cent thanks to higher premiums and more customers, they [...]
John Lewis sales hit by wedding and easter May 6, 2011 Easter and a half-day closure for the royal wedding led to a sharp fall in weekly sales at Britain’s biggest department store chain John Lewis, it said. Sales dropped 9.2 per cent year-on-year to £48.7m in the week ended 30 April, and were down 10.7 percent excluding VAT sales tax. Employee-owned John Lewis, viewed as [...]
International Airlines Group narrows losses May 6, 2011 International Airlines Group has seen its losses narrow on rising revenues in the company’s first results since the British Airways-Iberia merger. The firm lost 47m euros ($68m; £42m) in the first quarter of the year, down from a 273m euro loss a year ago. Revenues jumped 15.4 per cent on the year as business volumes [...]
