Cameron defiant in face of jeers over Brussels treaty January 31, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron stuck to his guns in parliament yesterday, insisting that he has not backed down over the new treaty agreed in Brussels. The PM faced opposition jeers and increasing discontent among Conservative backbenches. Tory MP Mark Reckless said Cameron had not vetoed anything, and added last night: “The City is left wide [...]
Greek talks threatened by troika austerity demands January 31, 2012 TALKS in Greece appear to be on a knife edge, with the government under pressure to guarantee strong austerity measures. Negotiations over the country’s bailout could be threatened by resistance to demands from the “troika” of foreign lenders – the European Central Bank, the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Near-bankrupt Greece is struggling to [...]
US recovery shows signs of slowdown January 31, 2012 BUSINESS conditions improved for the 28th consecutive month in the US, according to the Chicago Business Barometer, published yesterday. However, growth slowed, with the index falling from 58.8 to 54.9. Any figure above 50 represents improvement. Production growth slowed from 60.5 to 57, while new orders dipped from 61.5 to 56. Economists pointed to the [...]
COOK SNUBS M&B BOARD FOR VILLAGE HOTELS LIFE January 31, 2012 MITCHELLS & BUTLERS offered him a “senior role” following his resignation as chief executive of hotel group Malmaison last September. But Robert Cook turned down the chance to help chairman Bob Ivell steer the FTSE 250 pub group into calmer waters to instead put the Village Hotels brand, part of the Lloyds Banking Group-backed De [...]
Ocado cuts losses to £2.4m January 31, 2012 OCADO said warehousing problems that prompted it to issue a profit warning last month were largely solved as the online grocer posted a pre-tax loss of £2.4m for the year to the end of November 2011. In its second set of preliminary results since its flotation in 2010, Ocado said it had cut its losses [...]
No respite at Carpetright after sixth profit warning January 31, 2012 CARPETRIGHT has issued its sixth profit warning in a year and said it expected dire trading conditions to continue as it cuts prices to lure cash-strapped shoppers. The carpet and floor-covering specialist, which trades from around 650 stores in Britain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, said yesterday underlying pre-tax profit would miss market expectations of [...]
Tesco’s slice of market shrinks January 31, 2012 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has seen its market share fall under 30 per cent for the first time in almost seven years as it struggled to recover from its dire Christmas trading performance, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel. Tesco’s market share – based on a measure of how much money has gone through its [...]
Water bills set for 5.7pc hike says watchdog January 31, 2012 WATER and sewerage bills are to rise by around £20 from April, Ofwat said yesterday. The average household bill in England and Wales will be hiked by 5.7 per cent to £376, the industry watchdog revealed. The rise, 0.5 percentage points above inflation, comes as water companies prepare to invest as much as £22bn over [...]
F&C loses £4bn from its funds January 31, 2012 F&C Asset Management’s clients pulled around £4bn from the UK fund manager in the final three months of 2011, partly in response to the impact of the Eurozone crisis on investors. The vast majority of the outflows were related to key customer assets and included £1.3bn from the pension scheme of Portuguese bank BCP after [...]
Benetton warns on its earnings January 31, 2012 The Benetton family plans to buy out minority investors in the Italian clothing retail group bearing its name after the company warned 2011 profits would plunge 30 per cent due to weak consumer demand and debt costs. Shares in one of Italy’s best known clothing brands, which has stores in 120 countries, were suspended for [...]
