Taxpayers face rapidly growing public sector pensions burden November 5, 2012 TAXPAYERS will face the bill for public sector pension deficits, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) said yesterday, eventually putting in £4 out of every £5 invested in the schemes. Public sector pension shortfalls will hit £15.4bn in 2016-2017, according to Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts – 77 times higher than in 2005-06 when they [...]
Industry wants coalition to look again at property rates change November 5, 2012 RETAIL and property groups yesterday demanded the government consider axing part of the coalition’s Growth and Infrastructure Bill, which postpones the next property revaluation upon which rates are based. The last ratings revaluation used values from 2008 – at the height of the housing boom – which industry bodies say is penalising firms in the [...]
MPs demand clarity on job training policy November 5, 2012 THE BUSINESS, Innovation and Skills committee has called on the government to simplify and clarify its apprenticeships scheme in order to deliver better results and value for money. The committee, chaired by Adrian Bailey MP, said the government must formally define an apprenticeship, and that this definition must include developing skills – not just consolidating [...]
Weak housing supply to stoke higher rental costs in London November 5, 2012 THE COST of renting a property in London will continue to soar over the next decade, according to an academic paper released yesterday. Professor Michael Ball of the University of Reading found that the supply of housing will keep failing to keep up with the needs of the capital’s workers. While the government claims that [...]
Unemployment in Spain edges towards the five million mark November 5, 2012 THE NUMBER of officially unemployed people in Spain rose by 2.7 per cent in October from a month earlier, data revealed yesterday, reflecting the country’s ongoing economic crisis. Labour ministry figures showed an extra 128,242 people being out of work, with the total number reaching 4.8m. This was the third straight month the jobless figures [...]
Olympics combine with heavy taxes to knock tourism outlook November 5, 2012 THE OLYMPIC Games put a big dent in tourism in London over the course of the summer, an industry group said yesterday. Two thirds of tourism firms surveyed by UKinbound said that visitor numbers for the July to September period were down compared to a year earlier. And while some commentators have suggested that the [...]
Toyota profit outlook raised amid China hit November 5, 2012 TOYOTA Motors nudged its full-year net profit forecast up to $9.7bn yesterday, even as it put the cost of recent anti-Japanese protests and a slowing economy in China at lost sales of 200,000 cars. Sales at Toyota and its two Chinese joint ventures almost halved in September and October amid often violent protests in a [...]
Seadrill sells its Asian rig unit to SapuraKencana for $2.9bn November 5, 2012 SEADRILL, the world’s biggest offshore rig group by market value, is to sell part of its Asian business to Malaysia’s SapuraKencana in a deal worth $2.9bn (£1.8bn), freeing up cash to expand in high-growth deep-water drilling. The company, the crown jewel in billionaire John Fredriksen’s empire, is selling its tender rigs division – rigs for [...]
Renault and Caterham to build sports cars November 5, 2012 FRENCH automaker Renault and British sports-car maker Caterham unveiled plans yesterday to develop affordable racers for introduction by 2016. The vehicles will put racecar engineering in reach of more customers than current Formula One-derived offerings from rivals, Renault chief exec Carlos Ghosn (left) and Caterham chair Tony Fernandes said at a joint news conference.
Netflix defends against Icahn November 5, 2012 US-listed Netflix has adopted a poison pill defense to prevent a hostile takeover, acting just days after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed he had bought a stake in the streaming video and DVD-by-mail subscription service. The move is meant to prevent an outsider who lacks Netflix board approval from accumulating a stake of 10 per [...]
