Manufacturing slows in July says CBI July 27, 2011 British factory orders fell more sharply than forecast in July while industry expects the slowdown in manufacturing to continue over the coming months. The survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) doused hopes for improvement in the third quarter a day after official data showed the economy barely grew in the second quarter. The [...]
Ofgem fines British Gas £2.5m July 27, 2011 Energy regulator Ofgem is to fine Centrica’s British Gas, the country’s biggest household energy supplier, £2.5m for breaching regulations related to the handling of customer complaints. The complaint handling regulations took effect from October 2008 and set out the service that domestic and micro-business energy customers should expect from energy companies if they raise a [...]
ITV ad sales down but forecasts pick up in market July 27, 2011 ITV reported a six per cent drop in second-quarter national advertising revenue and saw the decline continuing as it remained cautious about the TV ad market and the economy. The company, which is one year into a five-year transformation plan under new management, reported a four per cent increase in total external revenue to £1.03bn [...]
Santander profit dented by UK insurance payouts July 27, 2011 Spain’s Banco Santander is to take a one-off charge of 620 million euros (£547m) to provide for insurance mis-selling claims in Britain, hurting its first-half profit. British banks including Lloyds and Barclays have unveiled billions of pounds of charges to cover compensation for mis-selling on payment protection insurance policies (PPI). Santander said on Wednesday first-half [...]
Aegis sells Synovate for £525m July 27, 2011 British marketing company Aegis Group said it agreed to sell its market research unit Synovate to French group Ipsos for £525m and planned to return a portion of the proceeds to shareholders. Aegis, which also has a media buying arm, said on Wednesday it would return £200m to shareholders via a special divided and added [...]
BAA narrows losses as traffic rises July 27, 2011 British airport operator BAA reported narrowing first half losses, helped by growth in long-haul travel, and said it continued to consider appealing a ruling saying it must sell two of its airports. BAA, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, reported an adjusted pretax loss of £116.9m in the six months to the end of [...]
BAT raises prices to boost earnings July 27, 2011 British American Tobacco raised its cigarette prices in the first half of 2011 to offset declining underlying volumes helping the group to beat forecasts on Wednesday with a 10 percent rise in half year earnings. The London-based maker of Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes said the price increases helped offset a 1 [...]
BUSINESSES CALL FOR GROWTH PLAN July 26, 2011 BUSINESS leaders, economists and Mayor Boris Johnson demanded strong measures to boost growth yesterday, after figures revealed that the economy grew by an unspectacular 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of the year. While statisticians partially blamed sluggish growth on one-off factors such as the royal wedding, a persistently weak economy could see the [...]
Virgin arm to move to Switzerland July 26, 2011 VIRGIN Enterprise is to shift its domicile to Switzerland in a move that will slash its tax bill. The company, which manages the licences to the Virgin brand name, told City A.M. the move is likely to happen “in the near future”. The announcement will come as a blow to chancellor George Osborne, who has talked [...]
Soros forced to close fund July 26, 2011 HEDGE fund legend George Soros, the man famed for his bet against the pound on Black Wednesday that netted him more than $1bn (£609m), will close his fund to external investment, bringing to an end a 40-year career. Soros will hand back $1bn to investors in a move he says was heralded by new hurdles [...]
