If Ofcom plans will really push up prices, networks must speak out January 3, 2013 VODAFONE aside, mobile phone network providers were strangely reluctant to criticise Ofcom’s proposals that customers should be allowed to get out of contracts scot free if prices are hiked. While Ofcom claims it is reacting to customer complaints, Vodafone – which stuck its head above the parapet to fight back – said new rules would [...]
Unilever sells peanut butter January 3, 2013 HORMEL Foods has agreed to buy Skippy, the iconic US peanut butter brand, from Unilever for $700m (£435m), adding it to a portfolio that includes Spam canned meat. The deal also gives Hormel, bigger global presence, including in markets such as China where Skippy is the leading peanut butter brand. Consumer goods conglomerate Unilever said [...]
Foyles reports flat Christmas January 3, 2013 FOYLES yesterday posted flat sales over Christmas after a weak performance at its flagship Charing Cross Road branch was offset by strong trading at Westfield Stratford and online. The bookseller said while the sales period between Christmas and New Year proved “exceptionally strong”, its overall performance was dragged down by weaker trading between 1 December [...]
Catastrophe losses fell in 2012 January 3, 2013 NATURAL disasters forced insurers to pay out just $65bn last year, down from $119bn in 2011, according to figures out yesterday. Research by Munich Re shows almost all catastrophe losses related to events in the US, with Hurricane Sandy responsible for $25bn of the total sum. Worldwide losses from natural catastrophes – including those not covered [...]
Capital defies gloomy outlook on house prices January 3, 2013 HOUSE PRICES sunk back into decline in the final month of 2012, capping off a gloomy year, according to data out yesterday. Prices edged down 0.1 per cent on average across the country in December, Nationwide said, contributing to an overall decline of one per cent over the year. This yearly fall came despite four individual monthly [...]
London fuels million-pound property boom January 3, 2013 TENS OF thousands more people became property millionaires in 2012, driven by healthy growth in London house prices. The number of properties worth £1m climbed 47,024 over 2012, Zoopla.co.uk said yesterday, to hit 300,142 – a rise of 19 per cent in just a year. Of this total, some 182,583 – or 64 per cent – are [...]
Bank says it is easier for firms to obtain credit January 3, 2013 CORPORATE and household credit conditions eased significantly over the last three months of 2012, according to data from the Bank of England. Almost 30 per cent of lenders told the Bank that their lending conditions for firms had eased in the past three months, swinging into the positive after three quarters of negative figures. A net [...]
Construction hits 6-month low in December as slump deepens January 3, 2013 THE slump in the UK construction industry deepened in December, with activity dropping even further. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the construction industry fell to a six-month low of 48.7 in December, from 49.3 in November, according to data released yesterday by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchase & Supply. Since this is further below the crucial [...]
UK labour productivity slides January 3, 2013 Productivity in the British workforce continued to slide in the third quarter of 2012, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Output per hour edged down 0.2 per cent over the quarter, making it the fifth successive quarter of decline. While productivity per worker and productivity per job both increased in the [...]
German unemployment rises January 3, 2013 The number of unemployed Germans rose in December, remaining close to post-unification lows. Unemployment climbed 3,000 to 2.942m in December, according to data from the Federal Labour Agency. The rise was lower than the 10,000 forecast by analysts, who expected the ongoing Eurozone crisis to have more of an impact. Separate data from Destatis showed [...]
