Standard Life unveils new board team January 18, 2010 STANDARD LIFE, Scotland’s biggest insurer, yesterday announced the first major appointments under its new chief executive. In a major re-shuffle, incoming boss David Nish appointed Christian Torkington and Sandy Begbie to the board of executives. Torkington joined the firm from RSA Insurance Group, where he was chief operating officer. Prior to this he held senior [...]
Toyota to boost hybrids output January 18, 2010 TOYOTA intends to double its output of petrol-electric hybrid cars to 1m units next year in an attempt to pull further ahead of its rivals. By 2011, hybrid cars are likely to make up 30 per cent of all vehicles made by Toyota in Japan, up from around 20 per cent in 2009, according to [...]
Spyker says no Saab joint bid January 18, 2010 DUTCH sports-car maker Spyker has denied reports that it plans to make a joint bid for General Motor’s Saab with Genii Capital, a Luxembourg investment firm with a 75 per cent stake in the Renault Formula One team. Spyker chief executive Victor Muller simply responded “no” to a text message from Reuters asking whether Spyker [...]
Henderson to reopen real estate fund January 18, 2010 ASSET management firm Henderson said yesterday it will re-open the New Star International Property Fund, over a year after it was suspended following a spate of redemptions. The fund, the darling of New Star founder and investment veteran John Duffield, originally flourished under his conviction that commercial property would prove resilient in the crunch. But [...]
Pubs and restaurants see sales jump in December despite gloom January 18, 2010 PUB and restaurant groups managed a 2.9 per cent year-on-year increase in sales in December despite poor weather, fewer Christmas parties and price hikes ahead of the VAT increase this month. However, the increase was lower than the 4.7 per cent total like-for-like growth in 2009. Mark Sheehan from Coffer Group, which published the figures, [...]
Weak pound fuels London sales boost January 18, 2010 SHOP sales in the capital soared over Christmas as tourists and Londoners embarked on spending sprees. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported that in London sales jumped 12 per cent in December – the best performance since it started publishing the figures in 2002. Visitors from Europe, China and the Middle East hit the shops, [...]
Confidence among businesses falls January 18, 2010 BUSINESS confidence fell to its lowest level in eight months at the end of 2009, according to the latest survey from Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. Of the companies questioned in December, only 52 per cent declared themselves more upbeat than a year ago, with 19 per cent claiming to be more pessimistic about the current [...]
IMF chief warns on risk of double-dip recession January 18, 2010 THE head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday that the global economy remains at risk of suffering a double-dip recession. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said countries should not ditch stimulus packages that have triggered growth through governments’ pumping of money into economies. Most economies are pulling out of recession but he has raised concerns that [...]
German economy growing but consumer spending on the slide January 18, 2010 FOREIGN demand kept Germany’s economy growing in the fourth quarter but consumer spending on cars and retail purchases has tailed off, the Bundesbank said yesterday. A dispute among government coalition partners over whether the country can afford billions of euros in planned tax cuts was calmed yesterday. Government members agreed to stop arguing in public [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: IS THE CHIEF OF THE IMF RIGHT TO WARN AGAINST DROPPING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL STIMULUS PACKAGES? January 18, 2010 ALAN CLARKE | BNP PARIBAS I have a lot of sympathy with what the head of the IMF has said. I am in favour of at least keeping in place quantitative easing or increasing it. The measures brought in have acted to stimulate the economy and household disposable income has remained relatively high despite the [...]
