We need growth, minister: get off your hobbyhorse September 20, 2011 DURING his speech to the Liberal Democrats in Birmingham, business secretary Vince Cable warned that we are facing a crisis “the economic equivalent of war”. While that might be an overstatement, we can’t argue with the facts. Unemployment stands at 2.51m, inflation is at 4.5 per cent, and a Eurozone crisis threatens the confidence of [...]
Politicians don’t know how incentives work September 20, 2011 THE chancellor George Osborne and business secretary Vince Cable believe that Britain’s economic problems are partly to be blamed on poorly designed incentive schemes. They believe that senior businessmen are “rewarded for failure”. If this were true, it would indeed be a problem. But the idea is preposterous. Why would the owners of a company [...]
RAPID RESPONSES September 20, 2011 Euro exhaustion We need long term economic restructuring to make the euro function by assisting struggling countries – flogging them through zero-growth austerity is pointless. I’m not sure the degree of political understanding or will to make the euro work is present any more. Chronic electoral and investor fatigue is making us too weary. If [...]
Samsung may try to block new iPhone September 20, 2011 THE ESCALATING smartphone patent war saw another salvo yesterday, with Samsung considering a legal bid to block the sale of the as-yet-unseen iPhone 5, according to sources close to the matter. The move follows a series of suits brought by Apple against the Korean firm, which culminated in sales of Samsung’s latest tablet being blocked [...]
ClearStream to be sold to Bard in £43m move to extend heart products September 20, 2011 MEDICAL device maker ClearStream Technologies said it has agreed to be bought by New Jersey-based CR Bard for about £43.8m in cash. The company, whose medical devices are used to clear blocks in the coronary and peripheral arteries, said the offer had been pitched at 85p a share, at a premium of 84 per cent [...]
ARM bosses net fortune in share sale September 20, 2011 ARM Holdings president Tudor Brown has sold shares worth £600,000, cashing in on the technology firm’s sky-high valuation. He offloaded 100,000 shares at 600p each. The transaction marks the second windfall in a month for the firm’s former chief operating officer, after he recently trousered £1m for cashing in 182,000 shares at 550p each. He [...]
Has Labour got better or worse since Ed Miliband became leader? September 20, 2011 This week, we’re asking members of our reader panel whether the Labour party has gone up in their estimations since Gordon Brown resigned and Ed Miliband took over. We also want to know how Ed Balls compares to Alistair Darling, his predecessor, and whether he has successfully used the cuts as a political weapon against the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 20, 2011 Wrigley Hamish Thomson has been appointed as general manager for the confectioner’s UK business, replacing Ian Burton, who has been promoted to run Wrigley’s European operations. Thomson, who currently leads Wrigley’s Pacific region, will relocate from Australia to London to take up the role in October. Prior to joining Wrigley in 2005, Thompson spent eight [...]
Loan market is stagnating, warns CML September 20, 2011 LENDING to housebuyers increased strongly in August, offsetting July’s poor figures according to statistics released yesterday by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Lenders doled out £13.4bn last month, up six per cent on July and an increase of 10 per cent on August 2010. July 2009 was the last time monthly lending was higher, [...]
SMEs performing strongly as lessons from the credit crunch keep them safe September 20, 2011 REVENUES are growing or at least staying put for most small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) despite the grim economic outlook, according to the Sage Business Index, released yesterday. Businesses across the world reported a relatively stable outlook, as 69 per cent experienced steady or growing revenues over the past six months. Spanish firms are [...]
