Study: Stop focus on tech growth January 17, 2012 Governments are wrong to focus exclusively on technology start-ups when looking to promote high-growth businesses, claims research from the Strathclyde Business School. Innovation schemes in many countries focus on the sector and on university research spin-offs, when they only actually produce very few successful firms. “It is dangerous to adopt policies which pre-judge where high-growth [...]
Romney hints at his tax rate January 17, 2012 US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, under increasing pressure to release his tax returns now, insisted yesterday he planned to make them public in April but said he “probably” pays a rate of around 15 per cent. Romney, who used to lead Bain Capital, said most of his income came from his investments, suggesting he [...]
Inflation plummets as high street sales help the consumer January 17, 2012 CONSUMER prices increased at their slowest pace for six months in December, the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday, with alcohol and tobacco prices down in the month and fuel rises slowing. The headline consumer price index increased by 4.2 per cent in the year to December – down from 4.8 per cent the month [...]
House prices drop for eighth month running January 17, 2012 HOUSE prices in the UK declined again in November, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) revealed yesterday. The index fell 0.3 per cent on an annual basis in November, slower than the 0.4 per cent decrease seen in October and representing the eighth consecutive monthly fall. Meanwhile the typical sum paid for homes [...]
Ministers on alert over age bias wrangle January 17, 2012 THE COALITION’S new rules on the retirement age could be plunged into confusion after a long-running discrimination case opened in the Supreme Court yesterday. Leslie Seldon, who was a partner at London law firm Clarkson Wright and Jakes, is taking his former employer to the highest court in the land after he was forced to [...]
Amazon is catching up to Britain’s top brand January 17, 2012 GOOGLE, Amazon and Marks & Spencer’s remain the healthiest brands in the UK in the eyes of consumers for the third year running, according to the annual YouGov BrandIndex league table of brands. They lead the way on the Index score, which is a composite of consumers’ perception of brands terms of quality, value, customer [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD EMPLOYERS RETIRE WORKERS BASED ON AGE? January 17, 2012 CARLOS LEWIS | MOIP CONSULTANCY “It isn’t right that employees can be forced out, especially as pensions are getting lower. The government should be on the side of employees.” SYED HASSAN | ALLIANCE & LEICESTER “The government should enact strong policy to protect older employees. It isn’t fair that someone can lose a job based [...]
BIRLEY CAPS NUMBERS AT HIS DELAYED £20M CLUB January 17, 2012 THE DEVELOPMENT of 5 Hertford Street is progressing “more or less” on track. That’s more or less as in originally scheduled for last November, before being pushed back to this month and now – final answer – March. “Except that’s Easter,” says a spokesman for Robin Birley, the leisure entrepreneur developing the £20m Shepherd Market [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 17, 2012 Ernst & Young Mark Weinberger has been named as Ernst & Young’s next global chairman and chief executive, succeeding Jim Turley, who will retire on 30 June after leading the firm since 2001. Weinberger currently sits on Ernst & Young’s highest governing body, the global executive, and runs the global tax practice. He previously served [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 17, 2012 IMPERIAL TOBACCO JP Morgan Cazenove rates the tobacco firm “overweight” and has introduced a target price of £31.27. The broker thinks the tobacco sector as a whole could be in for a rough start to the year, as reluctant investors stay away from the sector. But it points to a strong 2011, where even weaker [...]
