Crossrail train work has to benefit Brits February 28, 2012 BOMBARDIER’S hopes have been raised over lucrative work to build trains for London’s Crossrail project, after the government said the supplier must fulfil the contract in a way that benefits Britain. The Canadian firm, which has a factory in Derby, will compete with Hitachi, Siemens and Spanish group CAF for the contract to supply around [...]
Growing confidence should drive spending February 28, 2012 TODAY I can report some positive news from the February figures of YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker (HEAT). Consumer confidence continues to rise with the overall HEAT Index (a composite of eight current and forward looking metrics) moving from 92 to 93. This may be a small increase, but the real story is that the [...]
Satnav maker TomTom warns on 2012 as smartphones dominate its market February 28, 2012 STRUGGLING Dutch satellite navigation systems maker TomTom said sales and profit will continue to fall this year as more consumers opt for free software on smartphones, hitting its shares. “The visibility in our core PND [personal navigation device] markets is limited as there remains great uncertainty about the rate of decline of customer demand for [...]
Fuel bill set to knock profits at Aer Lingus February 28, 2012 IRISH airline Aer Lingus warned yesterday that its profit would fall this year due to higher fuel costs, and that a growing pension deficit had the potential to spark industrial action that would hurt the company. The airline beat analyst expectations by posting an operating profit of €49.1m (£41.6m) in the year to December, compared [...]
Ofwat head to work from London February 28, 2012 Water regulator Ofwat will let its next chief executive work from London after it failed to find a replacement for current boss Philip Fletcher who was willing to work from the company’s Birmingham base. Fletcher has already stayed at the company longer than planned after the initial search for his successor was abandoned last year [...]
AZ Electronics revenues rise February 28, 2012 Speciality chemical materials maker AZ Electronics said yesterday its annual revenues rose to $791.8m (£498.7m) from $682.1m the previous year, while a loss of $90.6m in 2010 became a profit of $125.6m this year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt 16 per cent to $261m. The firm paid a final dividend of 8.5 [...]
LightSquared chief exec resigns February 28, 2012 LightSquared, the telecom startup linked with Inmarsat, said that Sanjiv Ahuja resigned as chief executive and that backer Philip Falcone was named to the board. Ahuja will continue as chairman. The company declined to comment on why he was resigning as CEO. The move comes after LightSquared was denied US clearance to build a wireless [...]
Joblessness to near 3m, warns industry February 28, 2012 WEAK economic growth means unemployment will keep rising into 2013 – and an overhaul of jobs regulation will do little to help, according to the head of a leading employment industry body. Joblessness will rise from 2.67m currently to almost 3m, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) boss John Philpott will say in a [...]
US economic recovery looks weak as manufacturing orders take a hit February 28, 2012 US MANUFACTURING orders were weak and house prices kept tumbling last month, data out yesterday showed – though consumer confidence did rise in February. Durable goods orders fell four per cent in January, the Commerce Department said yesterday – the largest fall since January 2009 when the country was mired in recession. The orders rose [...]
House prices stabilised in January on falling supply February 28, 2012 HOUSE prices stabilised in January, the Land Registry said yesterday, as the market in London and the south east continued to rise much more strongly than the rest of England and Wales. Prices nationwide rose 1.1 per cent in the month, but remain down one per cent compared with January 2011. London’s prices were up [...]
