Imagination increases offer for tech firm to top a rival buyer December 10, 2012 BRITISH microprocessing firm Imagination Technologies has increased its offer to acquire the operating business of MIPS Technologies to $80m (£50m) after a rival firm topped its bid. Mobile chip designer CEVA made a $75m bid for MIPS in November, outweighing Imagination’s $60m original offer in November. Imagination said yesterday it had signed a higher revised [...]
Lynch in new challenge to HP December 10, 2012 MIKE Lynch, the British founder of Autonomy, said yesterday that he had not heard from Hewlett-Packard (HP), almost a month after HP accused former Autonomy bosses of account irregularities. HP wrote off over $5bn (£3.1bn) over the purchase of Autonomy, but Lynch, who denies the claims, said he believes in “innovation in all areas except [...]
No end to jobs boom in final months of 2012 December 10, 2012 THE LABOUR market continued its boom into November, with private sector demand more than offsetting public sector slack. Placements and vacancies rose at accelerated rates in the second to last month of the year, according to a survey by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation released yesterday. The bullish data came despite many analysts [...]
Surveyors point to broadly flat housing market in November December 10, 2012 THE HOUSING market muddled along in November, with mild falls in house prices, but improvements on other market measures. Prices slid at a slightly faster rate than in October, according to data out today from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, as indicated by a score of minus nine on their headline price index – [...]
OECD economists predict UK to show firmer growth in 2013 December 10, 2012 UK GROWTH is set to be firmer, if not rapid, in 2013, according to data out yesterday. The UK’s composite leading indicator, which is supposed to signpost turning points in economic cycles, saw another month of slight improvement, increasing from 100.3 in September to 100.5 in October. This 0.23 per cent increase follows on the heels [...]
After-tax profits dive across US business in weak third quarter December 10, 2012 US MANUFACTURERS, miners and wholesale traders all saw their profitability drop off in the third quarter, though professional services firms enjoyed improved earnings. After-tax profits across big US manufacturers dipped from $146.1bn (£88.1bn) to hit $132.5bn in the third quarter, according to data released yesterday by the US Census Bureau. Miners saw profits sag from $16.4bn [...]
Spending watchdog hits out at the government’s green targets December 10, 2012 GOVERNMENT policy on green tax should be centred around the most efficient means to reduce pollution, not around “essentially arbitrary” targets, a prominent fiscal think tank said yesterday. In the Autumn Statement the chancellor announced plans to increase the total share of revenue coming from taxes whose primary purpose is to achieve green outcomes, between 2010-11 [...]
Chinese export growth disappoints December 10, 2012 Chinese export growth disappointed all expectations in November, throwing cold water on the chance it was on the way out of its slowdown. Chinese exports grew by only 2.9 per cent year-on-year in November, against expectations of nine per cent, and down from 11.6 per cent growth in October. It represents the worst performance since [...]
CFOs confident over next year December 10, 2012 Economic conditions will get better in the new year, according to a majority of UK chief financial officers. In a poll from American Express, 81 per cent out of 200 respondents from large British companies anticipate an increase in their turnover in 2013. Yet the same poll suggests that their optimism about British economy is [...]
Families get support for Christmas December 10, 2012 Nearly half of Britons will receive financial support as a Christmas presents this year, according to a poll from Scottish Widows. Forty-four per cent of the population will get some kind of financial support from their family, the survey said, while one out 10 will need financial support just to get through the holiday period. [...]
