Luxury cars still selling fast in new markets January 10, 2013 BMW and Audi both posted record-breaking annual sales yesterday as demand for high-end marques in emerging markets continued to drive growth. Germany’s BMW reported sales of 1.845m vehicles in the year, a rise of 10.6 per cent. All three of its brands – BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce – delivered increases during the year. Rolls-Royce enjoyed [...]
Ithaca Energy to spend £224m on North Sea oil field project January 10, 2013 JUNIOR stockmarket-listed Ithaca Energy yesterday pledged $360m (£224m) in development on a North Sea oil field. This year’s investment programme for North Sea-focused Ithaca will be concentrated on the Greater Stella Area (GSA) development, in which Ithaca holds a 55 per cent interest. The drilling in the area, which is approximately 238km south east of [...]
Goals Soccer halts growth plans January 10, 2013 Goals Soccer Centre is to freeze its expansion plans until 2014 in a bid to cut back on its £50m debt-pile, the company said yesterday as it revealed a six per cent rise in full-year sales. The group, which runs 43 five-a-side football centres in the UK, said it successfully appealed HMRC’s decision to charge [...]
Hilton agrees Australian venture January 10, 2013 Hilton Food, the meat packing company which supplies major retailers including Tesco, yesterday reported a “solid” performance in the UK and Ireland last year and said that it had performed in line with board expectations. The group, which is due to publish its full-year results in March, also announced it is stepping up its expansion [...]
Swatch sales tick up 14 per cent January 10, 2013 Swiss based watch company Swatch said demand for affordable watches helped sales beat growth forecasts last year as demand for luxury models cooled in China. The world’s biggest watchmaker’s total sales were up by 14 per cent from 2011 to SwFr8.14bn (£5.5bn), with Chinese customers buying cheaper watches being a major driver in the increase. [...]
Spain and Italy see borrowing costs collapse January 10, 2013 INVESTORS showed increasing trust in the Spanish and Italian governments yesterday, allowing the countries’ borrowing costs to fall to unexpectedly low levels. It came as credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s published a report arguing the Eurozone “could start to emerge from sovereign debt troubles in 2013,” if the continent manages to address major imbalances [...]
China trade boost adds to hope that the slowdown has ended January 10, 2013 CHINESE export growth rocketed to a seven-month high in December, adding to evidence the world’s second biggest economy had turned a corner. Exports were 14.1 per cent higher in December than the same month in 2011, easily surpassing analyst expectations that the measure would show four per cent growth. This growth drove the Asian giant’s [...]
House prices rise by 3 per cent in 2012 despite flat December January 10, 2013 HOUSE PRICES were flat in December, but rose overall in 2012, according to data published today. Despite the lack of change between November and December, the average house price was 3.2 per cent higher last month than a year before, according to the LSL house price index. The rise adds £7,000 to the average property’s [...]
Pensioners’ fuel bills more than double as energy price climbs January 10, 2013 OVER 65s were last year faced with energy bills more than double those they paid in 2005, according to data out this morning. The average weekly fuel bill for families of people aged 65 and older was £26.08 in 2012, Saga said, up from £12.87 in 2005 – an increase of 102.6 per cent. This [...]
UK tourism bounces back after hit to numbers from Olympics January 10, 2013 THE OLYMPICS failed to increase tourism into Britain, official figures revealed yesterday, as the surge in visitors coming to see the Games was outweighed by other potential travellers staying away. But those who came to see the sporting spectacle spent more than twice as much as the average tourist, and the country saw a rebound [...]
