West End Christmas sales up on last year, exceeding rest of UK December 12, 2010 WEST end shops recorded a 7.6 per cent rise in November sales compared to last year, it was announced today. Promotions such as the traffic free VIP Day (“Very Important Pedestrians”) boosted sales, according to retail trackers Springboard. The surge was considerably above the relatively flat 0.7 per cent increases in the rest of the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL THE FESTIVE PERIOD KICKSTART SALES AND HELP CONFIDENCE RETURN TO RETAIL? December 12, 2010 HOWARD ARCHER | IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT “Things are improving slightly but there is still a lot of caution. Wage rises have fallen behind inflation and there is still the impact of government cuts to be fully felt next year.” STEPHEN ROBERTSON | BRITISH RETAIL CONSORTIUM “It is reassuring to see a majority of retailers believe [...]
ITV rakes in £25m from X Factor final December 12, 2010 MATT Cardle may have lifted the X Factor crown last night but ITV was the real winner, hitting an advertising jackpot of £25m. An estimated 20m people tuned in to watch the final of Simon Cowell’s talent show, with ITV charging close to £250,000 for a 30 second advertising slot. Firms including Lloyds Banking Group, [...]
Now is not the time to buy December 12, 2010 ITV cashed in this weekend on what has become one of the biggest UK television events of the year, reportedly bagging £25m in advertising revenues from the X Factor final. But does the reality TV boost mean that investors should be rushing to scoop up the firm’s shares? Its stock has climbed to over 73p [...]
Tight credit holding back UK recovery December 12, 2010 LENDING remains too low and is “holding back the economic recovery,” the Bank of England said today. The news comes after the Bank reported that mortgage approvals fell for six successive months to October. Tight credit conditions continue to hold back recovery in the housing market, analysts say. Yet banks are ahead of schedule in [...]
Structural reform needed, says Bank December 12, 2010 TOO big to fail banking institutions are “a paradox that must be tackled,” the Bank of England said today in its final quarterly report of the year. The “social costs” of failure amid large global banks have led to considerations of structural reform, the Bank said. The Independent Commission on Banking and Financial Stability Board [...]
Slump mirrors other recessions December 12, 2010 THE global economic slowdown is similar to previous recessions, the Bank of England said in its quarterly report released today. And exchange rate depreciations, as seen in the recent slump, have helped economies recover, it added. Financial crises affected recessions in the 18th and 19th centuries, while international financial crises have often impacted the UK, [...]
Cuts and taxes still a concern December 12, 2010 THE fiscal austerity measures are a concern for most households, yet people are reluctant to actively respond to the tougher times, it was revealed yesterday. In a survey conducted for the Bank of England, the “vast majority” were concerned about higher taxes and government cuts. Just 10 per cent said they will be unaffected. Yet [...]
Goldman loses trio of its key bankers December 12, 2010 AT LEAST three members of Goldman Sachs’ London equities team will retire from the firm. Head of the principal strategic investment group Phillip Hylander will step down at the end of the year to become an advisory director to the bank. Joining Hylander out of the revolving door will be Matthew Cyzer, who heads up the [...]
Carlyle Group will take control of Fairfield Partnership December 12, 2010 CARLYLE Group plans to take a controlling stake in Fairfield Partnership, the regional housing developer that owns more than 1,000 sites in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The US private equity giant will pay an initial £17m, rising to £40m after an agreed investment of capital. It will buy the stake from Fairview New Homes, which jointly [...]
