GKN predicts a strong end to the year as profits rise at airframe producer October 20, 2011 BRITISH industrials group GKN said yesterday third quarter profit rose 14 per cent, helped by strong growth at its automotive, agriculture and metals divisions. GKN, which produces auto components as well as airframes for plane-makers Airbus and Boeing, reported a pre-tax profit of £100m on sales 11 per cent higher at £1.48bn in the three [...]
Unum drops out of race for Irish Life business October 20, 2011 US INSURER Unum has left the race to buy Ireland’s largest life insurer Irish Life, the Irish Independent reported yesterday, without citing any sources. Bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent has put its life business, the jewel in its crown, up for sale after stress tests as part of an EU-IMF bailout revealed it had a [...]
Find out if you can cut it as an arcade trader October 20, 2011 MATT Silvester is head of training on the Professional Trader Programme at Schneider Trading Associates. He sees himself as a sergeant-major figure – weeding out the weak and cultivating those who have what it takes to sit at the arcade – a facility that provides support to independent traders. The initial programme lasts for four [...]
Overwhelmed? Sometimes you have to say no October 20, 2011 LIKE plenty of others in the City, Julie Meyer is a busy lady. Ever since she appeared on the BBC’s online Dragons’ Den she’s been bombarded with requests from everyone: entrepreneurs who want investment, businesses who want her to join their board and pesky journalists wanting quotes. All that, of course, on top of her [...]
Savers are being hit by brutal forces October 20, 2011 IF you want to feel the full effects of inflation, try buying a bar of chocolate at your local newsagent, a sandwich near your office or even a shirt for work. It’s incredibly depressing. Prices have shot up. For savers and investors, the name of the game remains wealth preservation: how do you prevent inflation [...]
Punch struggles as Spirit profits rise October 20, 2011 Spirit reported a 17 per cent rise in full-year pretax profit, at the top end of expectations, while Punch Taverns, from which it demerged earlier this year, said full-year profit fell. “We have made a good start to the new financial year and, while we expect the consumer environment to be more challenging, we are [...]
Investors spooked by Eurozone fears October 19, 2011 US stocks fell yesterday as traders, after sitting on their hands for most of the day, jumped to sell in a hair-trigger reaction to fresh reports underscoring that Europe remains far from a solution to its debt crisis. In a repeat of a now-familiar pattern, traders capitalized on headlines emerging late in the trading day, [...]
The latest plan to rescue the Eurozone is flawed: It sets the scene for another crisis October 19, 2011 AS EUROZONE leaders gear up for their umpteenth summit to solve the Eurozone crisis, they seem to have reached the conclusion that what the Eurozone needs is more leverage. Not only that, but they seem to believe that the best way to achieve this would be through using the EFSF, the Eurozone’s bailout fund, to [...]
Don’t give house room to illiberal spare-bed taxes October 19, 2011 A MISGUIDED charity has called upon the government to take action against elderly people who live in large homes. In its outrageous report Hoarding of Housing, the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) takes aim at 25m “unused” bedrooms in England. In view of the real housing shortage, the charity’s surreal answer is that the government should tax [...]
Time to debunk the silly myths about personal credit ratings October 19, 2011 A BAD credit rating is the financial equivalent of a six-year hangover. We should fear them. They can stop you getting a mortgage, new car and leave your credit card trapped on a crippling interest rate. But a lot of what is said about them is rubbish. For example, 71 per cent of people still [...]
