High street sales bounce back February 25, 2010 HIGH street spending bounced back this month as shoppers returned in force for the first time since the big freeze. The quarterly Confederation of British Industry (CBI) report showed that 46 per cent of retailers said business was up in February 2010 compared with the same period last year. Sales of clothes and household goods [...]
British Gas profits jump 58pc February 25, 2010 OPERATING profits at British Gas soared by 58 per cent in 2009 to a record high. The announcement came just days after energy regulator Ofgem revealed that energy firms’ profit margins had risen in recent months. British Gas said the average bill was “slightly higher” than the previous year when there were a series of [...]
National Express sees profits driven down February 25, 2010 TRANSPORT group National Express has reported a 43 per cent fall in full-year pre-tax profit and warned 2010 would be another challenging year. The company, which in December completed a £360m rights issue in order to cut debt, said adjusted pre-tax profit from continuing operations fell to £116.2m compared with £202.4m the year before. National [...]
Redrow reduces losses but warns over mortgage market February 25, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow slashed its first-half losses following a pick-up in the number of sales and an increase in prices but warned that a lack of mortgages is still causing problems. Completions climbed 21 per cent to 1,266 for the six months to December with the average selling price of homes rising 3.6 per cent to [...]
RBS reports £3.6bn loss February 25, 2010 THE Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported a £3.6bn pre-tax loss for the last financial year. The loss for the 12 months to December 31 is far below the record £24.3bn loss for 2008. Its bonus pool has been limited to £1.3bn after receiving billions of pounds in taxpayers’ money during the recession to [...]
Takeover rules set for shake-up February 24, 2010 THE Takeover Panel is preparing what could be the most dramatic shake-up of its rules for 20 years in the wake of Kraft’s £12bn takeover of Cadbury. Following a passionate speech by outgoing Cadbury chairman Roger Carr in Oxford a fortnight ago, the mergers watchdog has launched a white paper-style consultation on rules governing hostile [...]
Fed insists rates set to remain low February 24, 2010 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday insisted that US interest rates would remain low for an “extended period”, quashing fears that the US central bank was moving towards tightening monetary policy. In his first appearance before Congress since he won a second term as chairman, Bernanke was downbeat on the economic recovery, warning the current [...]
Welfare state requires a revolution February 24, 2010 FOR once, some good news. The City has become slightly more optimistic about the size of the budget deficit. The consensus view is that it will hit around £171bn for 2009-10; remarkably, this is marginally lower than the £178bn predicted by the Treasury. Not that this should be cause for celebration: even such a slightly [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 24, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EMI BANK DEBT BATTLE LEAVES ARTISTS WARY Uncertainty over EMI’s financial future is deterring some leading music industry managers and lawyers from signing artists to its record label as its parent company battles with its bankers over the debt burden of its 2007 buy-out. Terra Firma, the private equity firm run by Guy [...]
HSBC puts train unit up for sale February 24, 2010 HSBC’s train leasing arm HSBC Rail is up for grabs after the banking giant launched a £2bn sale of the business. HSBC Rail, one of three UK train leasing companies, is up for auction with a collection of bidders already eyeing the bank’s non-core asset.
