Pawnbroker’s profits soar in new “gold rush” January 21, 2010 THE UK’s largest pawnbroking chain H&T has said demand among recession-hit consumers to trade their unwanted gold for cash had more than tripled scrap profits last year. H&T now expects full-year profits at the top end of forecasts as the price of gold surges. The company offers a postal service, but mainly trades its cash [...]
Powerhouse China slams on the brakes January 21, 2010 BLISTERING growth in the fourth quarter saw China easily beat its 2009 growth target, putting it on course to overtake Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. GDP surged an annualised 10.7 per cent between October and December, compared with a year earlier. This fell slightly short of market forecasts of 10.9 per cent, [...]
Annual growth in the money supply hits a six-year low January 21, 2010 DECEMBER might have experienced sharply accelerating inflation but the supply of broad money (M4) in the economy fell at the fastest monthly pace since records began in 1982, new data from the Bank of England revealed yesterday. The supply of broad money, which measures cash, current account deposits, savings deposits and time-restricted deposits, fell 1.1 [...]
Tories to reduce most of deficit with deep cuts January 21, 2010 THE Tories will pay down the bulk of Britain’s yawning budget deficit with spending cuts – not tax rises. Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond also said that the party would make deeper cuts than Labour in a bid to pay down the budget deficit more quickly. “Clearly we’ve said we will go [...]
Eurozone: Economic activity posts slower pace of growth January 21, 2010 ACTIVITY in the eurozone grew at a much slower pace than expected in January but remained firmly in expansionary territory, a leading economic survey showed yesterday. The Markit purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) for the single-currency region revealed that the index of composite activity fell for the first time in 10 months to 53.6, above the [...]
US: Good outlook offsets job data and output worry January 21, 2010 JOBLESS claims rose unexpectedly last week to 482,000 as a backlog of applications from the holidays were processed. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said that business activity had fallen sharply in January to 15.2 from 22.5. But any concerns were eased by the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicator, which rose 1.1 per cent [...]
Starbucks UK hails record performance January 21, 2010 A 20 per cent rise in sales of gingerbread and toffee nut lattes helped Starbucks UK record its sixth straight month of like-for-like sales growth in December. The coffee giant, which has 661 stores across the UK, said an “exceptionally busy Christmas period” saw like-for-like sales last month rise six per cent leading to an [...]
Legg Mason hit by outflows January 21, 2010 LEGG Mason said outflows from its funds sharply accelerated in the latest quarter. One of the US’ largest money managers, Legg Mason said outflows totaled $33bn (£20.4bn) in its fiscal third quarter ended 31 December, compared with $8bn in the second quarter. Assets under management were $681.6bn at 31 December, down three per cent from [...]
Colliers fortunes tick up amid property recovery January 21, 2010 REAL estate consultancy Colliers CRE yesterday said it had seen a strong pickup in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, with momentum set to continue into this year as conditions in the property market continue to improve. Colliers, which completed an £18.4m equity fundraising in October to strengthen its balance sheet and brought in [...]
SSL Russian venture lifts expectation January 21, 2010 THE owner of the Durex and Scholl Footwear brands SSL yesterday said the recent acquisition of Russia’s most popular condom brand has continued to perform ahead of expectations, boosted by strong sales of core consumer brands and continued investment in advertising and promotion. Despite a difficult trading environment in some countries, the company has seen [...]
