Economy grows fastest for four years July 23, 2010 THE UK economy grew 1.1 per cent between April and June – higher than expected. According to the figures from the Office for National Statistics the construction industry saw its biggest lift since 1963 at 6.6 per cent. The service sector also saw a healthy rise. Chancellor George Osborne said the figures were evidence that [...]
Vodafone revenue returns to growth July 23, 2010 VODAFONE has said quarterly service revenues have risen for the first time since the global recession hit. The world’s largest mobile operator by revenue saw organic service revenue rise 1.1 per cent to £10.6bn in the April to June quarter – boosted by improvements in Germany, Britain and Turkey. The company said its focus in [...]
GM plots listing July 23, 2010 GENERAL Motors plans to file its registration for an initial public offering during the week of 16 August, just after the expected date for its second quarter results, according to US sources. A GM filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission would be the first step towards an IPO to reduce the US government’s [...]
GM plots IPO to reduce government stake July 23, 2010 GENERAL Motors plans to file its registration for an initial public offering during the week of 16 August, just after the expected date for its second quarter results, according to US sources. A GM filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission would be the first step towards an IPO to reduce the US government’s [...]
Close Brothers predicts “solid” year July 23, 2010 MERCHANT bank Close Brothers predicted it would report solid full-year results and that it had seen a slight, if fragile, improvement in bad debts among its customers. “The bad debt ratio improved marginally during the five months to 30 June 2010 although remains sensitive to the economic environment,” the company said in a trading statement [...]
Spanish banks ‘fail’ stress test July 23, 2010 SEVERAL of Spain’s 18 savings banks, including some of those which have been involved in recent mergers, have failed to pass tests to see how they would cope with worsened economic conditions, according to a Spanish newspaper. The tests on 91 European lenders use scenarios Including declines in the value of sovereign debt they hold. [...]
Wall St cheers bumper results July 22, 2010 WALL Street bellwethers cheered investors with a raft of good results last night, pushing up US indices and raising hopes of a sustained economic recovery. Corporate stalwarts UPS, Caterpillar and 3M all posted double-digit profit growth for the last quarter, while Microsoft surpassed Apple’s recent sales to report a record rise in revenue. The upbeat [...]
City doubts over Euro stress test results July 22, 2010 EUROPE’S much-vaunted stress tests have met with deep scepticism in the City ahead of the publication of the results today, with concerns rife that the test criteria will prove too lax to settle anxieties over the health of the region’s banks. Market observers yesterday levelled criticism at the Committee of European Banking Supervisors for watering [...]
Storm delays BP clean-up July 22, 2010 BP WORKERS were preparing last night to temporarily halt clean-up efforts as a tropical storm brewing in the Caribbean Sea threatened the oil giant’s response to the worst environmental disaster in US history. BP stopped drilling its relief well yesterday, while its slow-moving skimming ships left the Gulf of Mexico spill site to dock as [...]
Strong US profits good for recovery July 22, 2010 TWO major stories have been dominating market sentiment this week. The first was the run-up to the Eurozone bank stress tests; we will know results this afternoon but few are convinced of their rigour. It won’t quite be a whitewash but many Club Med banks will be let off too easily. The second story has [...]
