Retired homeowners are losing billions in weak property market February 6, 2012 RETIRED homeowners are losing out from housing market volatility, according to research published yesterday by Key Retirement Solutions (KRS). Over-65s own an estimated £749.45bn worth of property outright, and lost £7.185bn in the last three months as the housing market stalled – equivalent to £1,236 each. The market’s continuing poor performance means pensioners are down [...]
Company pension deficits show little sign of being filled, warns risk survey February 6, 2012 THE UK’S largest companies face a huge deficit in their defined benefit pension funds which shows no sign of being closed, Mercer’s pensions risk survey revealed yesterday. Combined deficits of FTSE 350 firms stood at £83bn on 31 January, the study showed, barely changed from the £84bn deficit recorded at the end of December. Asset [...]
Strong car registrations boost outlook for the UK February 6, 2012 RESILIENT car sales have provided a boost to the UK’s outlook, economists said yesterday. New car registrations edged up by 0.03 per cent last month, compared to January 2011, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed. “This is surprising because almost 200,000 cars were pre-registered by the industry in December 2011 [...]
TOP FED OFFICIAL HITS OUT AT LOW RATES February 6, 2012 Years of ultra-low interest rates, which the Federal Reserve is advocating, distort and damage the economy by hitting savers and paring back savers’ spending at a time when consumers are increasingly reluctant to borrow, St Louis Fed president James Bullard argued yesterday. As a result, current policies will fail, he said.
Warning of crisis over youth jobs February 6, 2012 Youth unemployment is threatening to become “a crisis we cannot afford”, said a report published yesterday. Over 250,000 young people have been unemployed for over a year according to Labour MP David Miliband, who chaired the commission, with a further 200,000 unemployed for over six months. “Some of the areas of the highest youth unemployment [...]
German factory orders bounce up February 6, 2012 Orders at German factories recovered more than expected at the end of 2011, due to strong demand from outside the Eurozone. New orders were up 1.7 per cent in December compared to November, when they tumbled by almost five per cent. A breakdown of the data showed that non-Eurozone orders bounced back by 12.3 per [...]
Randgold in dividend hike as profit lifts February 6, 2012 RANDGOLD Resources has seen its profits surge by 259 per cent, allowing it to double its dividend, it announced yesterday. The gold miner, whose main operations are in West Africa, attributed the figures to the strong performance of its Mali mines and rises in the price of gold. Randgold posted full-year profits for 2011 of [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN RANDGOLD CONTINUE ON ITS GROWTH PATH? February 6, 2012 ANDY DAVIDSON | NUMIS Overall a positive operational and earnings update and a good hike in the dividend which should keep everyone happy. As expected, lower production from Tongon following the perfect storm of issues, offset by better ounces from the Loulo- Gounkoto complex. JOHN MCGLOIN | COLLINS STEWART With a strong gold price we [...]
Premier plugs East Fyne well February 6, 2012 FTSE 250-listed Premier Oil said yesterday it would abandon an appraisal well in the North Sea as it would not be commercially viable to continue. The East Fyne appraisal well was drilled to a depth of 5,020 feet. It encountered 11 feet of gas bearing sands and eight feet of oil bearing sands – at the [...]
Afren starts drilling off the Ghana coast in the hope of finding more oil February 6, 2012 OIL and gas company Afren yesterday announced that it had started drilling off the coast of Ghana. Afren said that drilling began at the Keta block with Eni Ghana. Afren and Eni – Italy’s largest energy company – each have 35 per cent stakes in the block. Japanese conglomerate Mitsui and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation [...]
