Whitefox to appeal Tate & Lyle case June 27, 2012 British group Whitefox Technologies is to appeal against a US court ruling made against it in a dispute with Tate & Lyle which an analyst said could win the London-based sweeteners and starch company over £10m. The trial before the Supreme Court of the State of New York related to equipment and technologies supplied by [...]
Porsche plaintiffs suffer setback June 27, 2012 Investors suing Porsche over its botched 2008 takeover of Volkswagen suffered a setback to claims for more than €4bn (£3.2bn) of damages as German court hearings yesterday exposed initial cases as sketchy. Swiss investment company My Capital-MC and a German private investor are seeking compensation for €4.7m of losses from short-selling VW shares in a [...]
Northgate reintroduces dividend June 27, 2012 Van rental company Northgate reported an 11 per cent increase in full-year profit as higher hire rates and a rise in used vehicle sales boosted its UK segment. The British company said underlying pretax profit rose to £59.7m for the year ended 30 April from £53.8m last year. Northgate’s board recommended the re-introduction of a [...]
First dip in net mortgage lending since counting began, say banks June 27, 2012 NET MORTGAGE lending fell in May for the first time since the British Banking Association (BBA) began measuring the figure in 1997, the financial sector industry group said yesterday. With capital repayments outpacing stable gross lending, net mortgage lending dipped by £73m from April. And mortgage approvals fell 3.4 per cent in the year to [...]
Positive US housing and factory data provides boost to equities June 27, 2012 BETTER than expected American economic data pushed up stocks on major world markets yesterday. Contracts to purchase previously-owned US homes rose 5.9 per cent in May, matching the two-year high seen in March, fueling optimism that the hitherto housing market is beginning to recover. Data showing better-than-expected demand for long-lasting US manufactured goods in May [...]
Jubilee helped lift retail sales, survey shows June 27, 2012 HIGH STREET sales shot up in the year to June as a boost from the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations confounded the Eurozone crisis, according to a CBI survey published yesterday. Some 58 per cent of retailers reported increased sales volumes, as opposed to just 17 per cent stating reductions. In previous surveys retailers had only expected [...]
Slow planning decisions thwart growth, small firms complain June 27, 2012 BRITAIN’S “costly and complex” planning system is stifling small firms and stunting economic growth, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said yesterday. Nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) of small businesses are forced to wait longer than the intended maximum of eight weeks for local authorities to decide on most planning applications, the FSB [...]
Real wages stagnant despite steady private sector pay rises June 27, 2012 PRIVATE sector nominal wages grew steadily over the last few months, according to research published today by Incomes Data Services (IDS). The median pay deal in the three months to May 2012 was three per cent in the private sector, but just 2.5 per cent in the economy overall, as some pay freezes in the [...]
Chicago dove Evans urges the Fed to fire up the printing press June 27, 2012 SENIOR Federal Reserve official Charles Evans, one of the US central bank’s strongest advocates for further monetary policy easing, said yesterday he is flummoxed by the Fed’s timidity in the face of high unemployment and relatively low inflation. At its policy-setting meeting last week, Fed officials sharply slashed their GDP forecasts for 2012 and 2013 [...]
New subsidies for young workers June 27, 2012 Firms that take on young workers in 20 areas with high levels of unemployment will receive improved wage subsidies, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced yesterday. Employers who take on 18-24 year olds classed as ‘long-term unemployed’ from these regions will now receive £2,275 per person after six months while in the rest of the [...]
