BAA passenger numbers down after strike and ash cloud June 10, 2010 BAA’s passenger traffic in May dropped compared with last year after being hit by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud and British Airways’ cabin crew industrial action. BAA’s UK airports handled 8.6m passengers in the month, which was a drop of 4.5 per cent on May 2009. Heathrow handled 5.3m passengers – 3.1 per cent down [...]
Britain’s trade gap widens June 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S goods trade deficit with the rest of the world was wider than expected in April – after disruption to air traffic as a result of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud, official figures have showed. The Office for National Statistics said Britain’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world widened to £7.279bn in [...]
Germany and France in new call for short selling ban June 9, 2010 GERMANY and France have written a joint letter to the European Commission urging it to ban short selling of shares and sovereign bonds. Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy told European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso the EU executive needed to accelerate the pace of financial reform. Brussels ought to accelerate efforts to [...]
JD Sports boosted by World Cup June 9, 2010 JD Sports Fashion has seen a return to growth after sales were boosted by the World Cup. The group, which trades as JD Sports, Chausport, Size, Bank and Scotts from over 530 stores, said on Wednesday sales at UK and Irish shops open at least a year rose 4.1 per cent in the 18 weeks [...]
Property giants in £1.6bn merger June 9, 2010 THE F&C Commercial Property Trust and UK Commercial Property Trust have agreed to merge, creating Britain’s sixth largest listed property company worth around £1.6bn. The tie-up, designed to boost investor pulling power as Britain fights to ward off a second property slump, will be effected by a solvent liquidation of FCPT, the issue of new [...]
Northern Rock to shed 650 jobs June 8, 2010 NORTHERN Rock has said it plans to axe 650 jobs by the end of the year in a massive cost-cutting shake-up at the lender. The process is part of taking the bank out of public ownership and making it a fully fledge private company again. Chief executive Gary Hoffman said the bank had to “align [...]
Pound falls after Fitch warns of UK’s “formidable” problems June 8, 2010 STERLING has fallen against the euro after Fitch ratings agency described the fiscal challenge facing the UK as “formidable”. Fitch said “the scale of the UK’s fiscal challenge is formidable and warrants a strong medium term consolidation strategy – including a faster pace of deficit reduction than set out in the April 2010 Budget”. Sterling [...]
ABB in £860m deal for Chloride June 8, 2010 SWISS engineering giant ABB has had an £860m bid for Chloride – which protects against power cuts at Heathrow’s Terminal Five – accepted. An offer of 325p a share has been agreed. Chloride, whose products protect companies against power shortages, rejected an offer for £723m in April from Emerson. Chloride would be integrated into ABB’s [...]
WH Smith sees sales hit in ash cloud crisis June 8, 2010 WH Smith posted a fall in third-quarter sales as travel disruption due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud hit the firm’s airport business. The company said its financial position was in line with market expectations and although it was cautious about consumer spending it was confident in the outcome for the full year. WH Smith [...]
Charles Stanley raises dividend after profit rise June 8, 2010 STOCKBROKER Charles Stanley has posted a ten per cent rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit – helped by higher revenue from private clients, and raised its total dividend for the year by eight per cent. The company said it was too early to predict a sustained recovery, but added it was more confident about its [...]
