Barratt swings to profit February 22, 2012 Housebuilder Barratt swung into profit in the six months to 31 December as revenues climbed. Pre tax profits of of £21.6m compared with a loss of £4,6m in the same period the previous year, Revenues jumped by 8.6 per cent to £952.8m while the average selling price of its homes increased by 3.1 per cent [...]
BAA losses narrow after record Heathrow passenger numbers February 22, 2012 Heathrow airport passenger numbers rose five per cent to a record 69.4m last year, helping BAA to narrow its losses. The airport operator made a loss of £255.8m in the year to 31 December, compared with£316.6m the year before. Passengers at its Stansted airport dropped by by 2.8 per cent to 18m. The company said [...]
China new export orders fall February 22, 2012 China’s new export orders shrank in February the most in eight months, a preliminary HSBC business survey shows, defying expectations of a pick up after Lunar New Year holidays and a worrying sign of the impact of the euro area debt crisis. Many analysts had expected some rebound in February after imports and exports fell [...]
FTSE Flat as Greek bailout gets the nod February 21, 2012 THE FTSE 100 was broadly flat this morning as Eurozone leaders agreed a second bailout for Greece after weeks of tortuous negotiations. Investors overall were encouraged by the move but there were still fears that the €130bn lifeline was only a short term fix for Greece which is drowning in debt. The deal was largely [...]
UK public finances in bigger than expected surplus February 21, 2012 UK public finances posted their biggest monthly surplus in four years in January, driven by a drop in local government borrowing and a modest rise in tax receipts, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. The figures will come as a relief for Chancellor George Osborne after ratings agency Moody’s warned last week that [...]
Amec launches £400m buyback as profits jump February 21, 2012 Engineering group AMEC said it would launch a £400m share buyback programme and raised its dividend by 15 per cent, as it posted a jump in 2011 profit alongside a positive outlook for the current year. AMEC, whose customers operate in the mining, oil and gas, nuclear power and renewable energy sectors, on Tuesday reported [...]
Eurozone agrees second Greece bailout February 21, 2012 Eurozone finance ministers sealed a €130bn bailout for Greece to avert a chaotic default in March after persuading private bondholders to take greater losses and Athens to commit to deep cuts. After 13 hours of talks, ministers finalised measures to cut Greece’s debt to 120.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020, a fraction [...]
FSA fines Santander £1.5m February 20, 2012 The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Spanish bank Santander £1.5m for failing to clarify a compensation procedure on some of its products. The FSA said that the Santander fine related to “failing to confirm under which circumstances its structured products would be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).” The FSA said Santander [...]
FTSE up as Greek D-Day arrives February 20, 2012 Miners led the FTSE 100 upwards this morning as China moved to stimulate more growth in its economy and Eurozone chiefs were poised to finally sign a bailout agreement to save Greece. China’s central bank cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserves, boosting lending capacity for the second time in nearly three [...]
Lloyds to strip bankers of bonuses February 20, 2012 Lloyds is to strip five current and former senior bankers of more than £1m in bonuses over their role in the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The bank is taking back the bonuses over the scandal that cost the part state-owned bank £3.2bn last year. PPI was often sold alongside loans to cover repayments [...]
