Belgian double dip sparks worries over euro growth February 1, 2012 BELGIUM yesterday confirmed its unenviable title as the first non-bailed-out Eurozone member to fall back into an official recession. GDP in Belgium, the bloc’s sixth largest economy, shrank by 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a quarterly contraction of 0.1 per cent in the July to September period. Belgium is often [...]
IFS: A budget giveaway will risk disaster February 1, 2012 PUBLIC borrowing is likely to come in around £2.9bn below the latest official forecasts in 2011-12 and £9bn lower by 2016-17, analysis published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimated yesterday. However, chancellor George Osborne should be wary of indulging in a spending splurge in next month’s budget – spending would have to be [...]
Efficiency drive is not enough – NAO February 1, 2012 CENTRAL government departments are successfully finding efficiency savings – but they have not paid enough attention to the reorganisation needed to sustainably cut costs on a larger scale in coming years, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned in a report published today. Spending fell by 2.3 per cent, or £7.9bn, in real terms in 2010-11, [...]
America boosts output as China and Eurozone lag February 1, 2012 FACTORY output expanded strongly in the US in January, according to figures published yesterday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). However, manufacturing output declined in China and the Eurozone, according to data from Markit, though German production increased. The ISM purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the US came in at 54.1 – up from [...]
House prices fell again in January, Nationwide says February 1, 2012 HOUSE prices declined in January and barely registered any growth over the last year, according to figures out yesterday from Nationwide. Prices fell 0.2 per cent last month, repeating December’s fall and taking the 12-month growth rate down from one per cent to 0.6 per cent. Average prices now stand at £162,228, from £161,211 in [...]
FACEBOOK: A TIMELINE OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK February 1, 2012 SEPTEMBER 2003 Mark Zuckerberg – then a 19-year old psychology and computer science student at Harvard – launches Facemash, a site where fellow students can rate their classmates JANUARY 2004 Zuckerberg starts writing code for Facebook and registers the domain name thefacebook.com. Six days after the site is launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss [...]
Facebook IPO to give birth to billionaires February 1, 2012 FACEBOOK yesterday submitted papers to become a publicly traded company later this year, putting an end in the week of its eighth anniversary to months of heated speculation. In a rare insight into the mind of the usually tight-lipped social network creator, celebrity geek Mark Zuckerberg included a letter in the filing. “We often talk [...]
ADVISERS: MORGAN STANLEY, JP MORGAN, GOLDMAN SACHS ET AL February 1, 2012 MICHAEL GRIMES MORGAN STANLEY Morgan Stanley has landed the coveted lead left spot in Facebook’s long-awaited initial public offering and the deal is likely to be managed by its co-head of global technology investment banking, Michael Grimes. The lucky banker has been on good terms with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer and former Google [...]
One-off gains push Nomura back to profit February 1, 2012 NOMURA revealed a surprise boost back into profit in its quarterly results yesterday, although analysts said that much of the improvement was down to one-off gains. The bank swung back into the black to book earnings of ¥36.9bn (£306m) for the quarter, versus a ¥42.3bn loss the previous quarter. That was on the back of [...]
Probe censures Deloitte over Phoenix Four advice February 1, 2012 THE UK’s corporate governance regulator has criticised accountancy firm Deloitte’s advice during the controversial 2005 takeover of MG Rover, saying the firm’s conduct “fell short of the standards” expected. Deloitte – and then-corporate finance partner Maghsoud Einollahi – acted as adviser to companies involved with MG Rover and the so-called Phoenix Four directors. The investigation will now [...]
