NEWS FROM IATA AIRLINE INDUSTRY CONFERENCE June 7, 2011 Boeing says it will defend the supremacy of its 777 BOEING vowed yesterday to defend its successful 777 wide-body aircraft and signalled it feels under no immediate pressure to respond to a reported challenge from European rival Airbus. Industry sources revealed on Monday that Airbus planned to place a bigger engine on one variant of [...]
Commodities still driving up food costs June 7, 2011 FOOD prices at UK stores rose again last month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed today. Food costs were 4.9 per cent higher than in May 2010, up from April’s annualised food inflation rate of 4.7 per cent. Soaring prices of fresh foods were the main driver, with year-by-year inflation jumping to 4.2 per cent, [...]
UK house prices in downward trend June 7, 2011 HOUSE prices rose just 0.1 per cent in May, the latest Halifax index revealed yesterday, barely recovering from a sharp 1.4 per cent drop in April. The underlying decline in prices was shown by a 1.2 per cent fall in the three-monthly measure, which irons out some of the monthly volatility in the figures. Prices [...]
Companies hit the brakes on recruitment in May June 7, 2011 PERMANENT employment in the UK grew for the 22nd month in a row in May, yet the rate of jobs growth slowed to its weakest level since October last year, a report revealed today. Temporary jobs continued to rise, yet at a remarkably sluggish rate. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 52.4 for temporary [...]
London’s rising housing rents begin to slow June 7, 2011 RENT hikes in London have begun to slow, according to a Homelet index released yesterday. Rented accommodation in the capital cost 0.42 per cent more in May than April, yet this was the slowest rate of growth seen this year. Demand is being dented by high inflation, particularly in areas such as the north west, [...]
HAVE YOU NOTICED AN INCREASE IN FOOD PRICES? June 7, 2011 DARREN LOCK | KIRKLAND AND ELLIS “I haven’t really noticed a large increase because everything in the City has always been expensive. I try to use cheaper brands which are just as good as expensive ones, rather than cutting down.” ELAINE NUTTALL | BLACKMORE BORLEY “Yes, I have found the price has increased a lot, [...]
Rise in UK’s foreign acquisitions June 7, 2011 British companies boosted their acquisitions abroad in the first three months of the year, official data showed yesterday. The total value of acquisitions jumped to £18.3bn in the first quarter, from just £3.8bn in the last quarter of 2010, hitting the highest reported value for outward investment since late 2007. Total acquisitions of UK companies [...]
Uptick in Eurozone’s retail sales June 7, 2011 High street sales across the Eurozone stunned economists yesterday, soaring by 0.9 per cent in April, compared with March. However, the spike merely pared the sharp 0.9 per cent monthly drop in sales recorded in March. Compared to the same time last year, sales were up 1.1 per cent in April. Across the wider EU [...]
German factory orders recover June 7, 2011 German factory orders climbed 2.8 per cent in April compared to the previous month, reversing the 2.7 per cent drop seen in March. “Assuming the current reading persists in May to June, factory orders would be 1.5 per cent above the their quarter four [2010] level, providing a favourable indication for production output,” commented Barclays [...]
Scot Power hikes its gas bills by 19pc June 7, 2011 UTILITY firm Scottish Power will hike its domestic power and gas tariffs from 1 August in response to rising wholesale energy prices, it announced yesterday, becoming the first of the power companies set to raise household bills this summer. Gas bills for Scottish Power customers will increase by an average of 19 per cent, while [...]
