Surprise drop in unemployment figures January 20, 2010 THE number of people out of work in the UK has fallen for the first time in 18 months, official figures show today. There were 2.46m unemployed people in November, down from 2.49m the previous month. This puts the unemployment rate at 7.8 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent, according to the Office of [...]
Bank of America posts loss after repaying bailout January 20, 2010 BANK of America has posted a quarterly loss and its first full-year deficit in more than 20 years after repaying US bailout money and defaults on consumer loans. The fourth-quarter loss including the cost of exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program widened to $5.2bn (£3.2bn) or 60 cents a share, from $2.4bn, or 48 cents, [...]
Comet in festive sales slump January 19, 2010 COMET dragged down sales at parent company Kesa as the electrical store failed beat off its rivals over Christmas. Like-for-like sales dropped by 3.9 per cent at Comet between 1 November and 8 January. Kesa’s overall sales fall was limited to 0.3 per cent after growth in its international businesses. Comet’s performance was overshadowed by [...]
Eurostar sees record ticket sales January 19, 2010 TICKET sales and passenger numbers at Eurostar edged up to a new record last year despite a series of breakdowns which left thousands of passengers stranded in the Channel Tunnel. Sales at Eurostar reached £675.5m – up 1.7 per cent on 2008. The company took £675.5m while passenger numbers rose 1.2 per cent to 9.2m. [...]
Kraft goes on a charm offensive January 19, 2010 KRAFT chairman Irene Rosenfeld is planning a charm offensive to persuade doubters that the US takeover of iconic chocolate giant Cadbury will be a good thing for the UK. Her first task will be to woo Legal & General (L&G), Cadbury’s second-largest shareholder, which sent out a combative message yesterday. L&G slammed the £11.7bn offer [...]
UK Mail posts rise in revenues January 19, 2010 ROYAL Mail rival UK Mail reported a rise in revenues for the last three months of 2009. Revenues rose 4 per cent compared to the same period last year. UK Mail’s chief executive Guy Buswell said a rise in marketing companies sending junk mail had driven sales in its business post operations. Strike action by [...]
Britain faces years of pain, warns Mervyn King January 19, 2010 THERE are bleak years ahead for the British economy, according to the governor of the Bank of England. Interest rates will have to rise to combat the return of inflation and the standard of living will drop, said Mervyn King in an explosive speech at the University of Exeter last night. He believes it will [...]
Banks to cut bonus payments January 19, 2010 CREDIT Suisse yesterday became the first bank to pass on the UK 50 per cent bonus tax to staff. The top 400 UK bankers at the Swiss Institution will see their bonuses cut by more than a third. There will also be a five per cent cut in the global bonus pool, applicable to any [...]
Citigroup hit by $7.6bn loss January 19, 2010 CITIGROUP yesterday posted losses of $7.6bn (£4.6bn) in the final quarter of the year. Losses for the whole of 2009 were $1.6bn compared with $27.6bn the year before. The fourth quarter results take into account a final government bailout repayment of $6.2bn. After excluding one-off items, the bank recorded a $1.4bn loss in the last [...]
Price of everything going up too fast January 19, 2010 BRITAIN has a credibility problem – and no, I’m not only talking about the government’s hypocritical and self-serving protectionist rhetoric on Cadbury. Yesterday’s inflation figures were even more damaging. The consumer price index (CPI) rate jumped to 2.9 per cent from 1.9 per cent in November; when the Vat hikes kick in, inflation is bound [...]
