Financial services firms account for 9.6 per cent of the UK’s GDP January 9, 2013 CITY FIRMS defied a harsh economic climate to up their contribution to UK GDP in 2011, according to data out yesterday. Financial services accounted for 9.6 per cent of the UK’s national output in 2011, TheCityUK said yesterday, up from 9.4 per cent in 2010. Together with the 4.9 per cent of GDP contributed by professional services in [...]
Facebook shares hit six-month high on rumours of smartphone January 9, 2013 SHARES in Facebook reached their highest level in six months yesterday as speculation mounted that Mark Zuckerberg’s company is set to unveil its own smartphone. Facebook sent out invitations to a special event scheduled for next week, encouraging guests to “come and see what we’re building”. The news reignited rumours that the company will look [...]
UBS says male staff excess led to Libor fixing January 9, 2013 THE ROTTEN culture in parts of Swiss bank UBS could be improved by hiring more female staff, investment banking chief Andrea Orcel told MPs and peers yesterday. He estimated that 90 per cent or more of UBS’ traders are male, describing such a ratio as “a shortcoming” at the bank and agreeing with MP Pat [...]
ArcelorMittal in £2.2bn deal to reduce debts January 9, 2013 ARCELORMITTAL, Lakshmi Mittal’s heavily-indebted steel group, yesterday unveiled a £2.2bn offer of shares and mandatorily convertible loan notes in the first major equity capital markets deal of the year. The deal, which was arranged by Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank, will enable the steel giant to reduce its net debt [...]
US crude oil production set to surge to 26 year high by 2014 January 9, 2013 US CRUDE oil production is expected to rise to 7.9m barrels a day in 2014, marking the highest annual level of production since the late 1980s, according to a forecast from a US government agency. The US Energy Information Administration’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook expects US domestic crude oil production to increase to 7.3m barrels [...]
Shell concedes issues in Arctic drilling following US review January 9, 2013 SHELL yesterday welcomed the US Interior Department’s review into its drilling programme into the Arctic, conceding that it had faced a series of challenges in its exploration efforts. The review, which follows the grounding of Shell’s Kulluk Arctic rig at the end of December, will look more generally into drilling practices in the Beaufort and [...]
Briton jailed for arms deal with Iran January 9, 2013 A BRITISH businessman was yesterday sentenced in Texas to 33 months in prison for selling weapons parts to Iran. Christopher Tappin, 66, from Orpington in Kent, admitted attempting to sell components of Hawk air defence missiles to the country, in violation of international sanctions. He stood to gain just £6,800 from the deal. The sentence [...]
M&S’s board still backs Marc Bolland but its patience will not last forever January 9, 2013 THIS was no ordinary trading statement. If Marc Bolland, the Marks & Spencer chief executive, had sold an item from his womenswear ranges last autumn every time the retailer’s advertising slogan had been parroted back at him, he’d have wiped the floor with the rest of the high street. Last night’s hastily-released quarterly trading update [...]
Sainsbury hails bumper Xmas but sales slow January 9, 2013 SAINSBURY’S yesterday hailed “a record-breaking Christmas” despite suffering its weakest growth in seven years as the grocer market battles with squeezed household income and cut throat competition. Chief executive Justin King pointed to a 32nd consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth, with sales at stores open a year up 0.9 per cent, excluding fuel in the [...]
Ted Baker unveils festive results boost January 9, 2013 TED BAKER made a seamless start to the year after yesterday announcing that mens’ tailoring helped to boost sales by more than a fifth over Christmas and New Year. Chief executive Ray Kelvin yesterday said the clothing chain “delivered a good result” over the period with retail sales up 20.9 per cent in the 8 [...]
