Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
New handsets fail to lift HTC October 8, 2012 HTC posted a record profit drop yesterday, as the smartphone maker failed to keep up with Samsung and Apple over the summer. The Taiwanese firm said poor sales of its flagship handsets had led to a 79 per cent fall in profits, from T$18.7bn (£400m) to T$3.9bn in the last quarter. Turnover fell 23 per [...]
ITV takes over Finnish studio October 8, 2012 ITV yesterday announced it had acquired Finnish TV studio Tarinatalo, in what the company called “a key part of its transformation plan” as it bolsters its production arm. Tarinatalo, which co-produced the 2007 Eurovision contest, counts the Finnish version of Dragon’s Den among its shows. The deal, of undisclosed value, expands ITV’s footprint in Scandinavia [...]
Double celebration for Luxfer October 8, 2012 LUXFER Holdings, the Salford-based speciality metals group that last week became the latest high-flying UK company to list its shares on Wall Street, missed out on a chance to ring the opening bells at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). But it turns out the firm had a very good reason for opting out, as [...]
Win Champagne spot the city landmark October 8, 2012 THERE are only a couple of weeks to go until St John’s Ambulance’s flagship black-tie City quiz evening, The Game, on 24 October. All proceeds from The Game will support Teach the difference, SJA’s campaign to equip an entire generation with first aid skills. To book a table, please contact game@nhq.sja.org.uk or call 020 7324 [...]
UK retail sales bounced back in September October 8, 2012 BRITISH shops received a boost last month as retail sales sprung back to life after a miserable summer on the high street. Like-for-like sales shot up 1.5 per cent in September compared to the same time last year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said this morning – the strongest increase so far in 2012. And [...]
China’s service sector rebounds yet World Bank cuts forecasts October 8, 2012 THE WORLD Bank slashed its estimates for Chinese GDP growth yesterday, yet separate business survey data showed a healthy rebound in the country’s service sector last month. HSBC’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for China’s services industry climbed to 54.3 in September, up from 52 in August, it revealed yesterday. The higher the PMI score above [...]
Report says shortage of homes in London will stunt job growth October 8, 2012 LONDON’S housing shortage is set to become severe enough to harm job creation in the capital, a report claimed this morning. Living conditions will become more cramped with young people forced to stay in the rental market for even longer, according to Cluttons, a group of consultants and chartered surveyors. “Large increases in demand for London [...]
Surveyors predict green shoots for housing market by year end October 8, 2012 SURVEYORS expect the housing market to pick up towards the end of the year, according to a leading survey released this morning. Sales expectations have jumped to their highest level since May 2010, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) announced today. The net balance of surveyors expecting a higher number of home sales in the [...]
Key tourist attractions knocked by rainy summer and Olympics October 8, 2012 LONDON’S tourism hotspots have been hit hard by a combination of Britain’s wettest summer for 100 years and the distraction of the Olympic Games, an industry group revealed yesterday. Visitor numbers to London dropped by an average of 15 per cent in the three months to August 2012 compared to the same months in 2011, [...]
