Criminal case for ex-SocGen boss dropped July 20, 2010 Jean-Pierre Mustier, Societe Generale’s former head of investment banking, has escaped criminal charges a month after market regulator AMF fined him €100,000 euros (£84,600) for insider trading. The public prosecutor has dropped its probe into alleged insider trading after a preliminary police inquiry, a spokesman for the prosecutor said yesterday. “The probe has been closed, [...]
Job vacancies to outnumber candidates after the summer July 20, 2010 JOB opportunities in the City are set to surge in the second half of the year, with some sectors expecting to have more vacancies than qualified candidates by September, according to several surveys. Financial services firms will have 10.3 jobs to fill per 10 candidates looking for work by the end of the third quarter, [...]
£100m deal for Balfour Beatty July 20, 2010 CONSTRUCTION firm Balfour Beatty has signed a £100m partnership deal with Southampton’s authorities to resurface the city’s roads. Britain’s largest infrastructure group said yesterday the work will commence on 1 October, and will last for 10 years initially with the option of a five-year extension. Balfour Beatty chief executive Ian Tyler said: “We are delighted [...]
Speedy Hire revenue drops July 20, 2010 TOOL hire company Speedy Hire remains cautious ahead of public sector spending cuts, despite announcing revenues were down slightly as expected. The Merseyside-based firm told shareholders at its AGM yesterday that revenue excluding fleet equipment sales was down 0.7 per cent in the three months to 30 June compared to last year. Net debts at [...]
OUTPUT RISES AT FASTEST PACE FOR 15 YEARS July 20, 2010 OUTPUT of UK manufacturing firms rose at the fastest rate for 15 years in the three months to July thanks to stronger demand for UK goods and restocking, the CBI said yesterday. A net 24 per cent of manufacturers reported rising rather than falling output. But firms expect the pace of growth over the next [...]
Borrowing at a record high July 20, 2010 GOVERNMENT borrowing climbed to a record high in June, highlighting the severity of the task facing the coalition government. The public sector net cash requirement (PSNCR) was £20.9bn last month, more than had been forecast and the highest since records began in 1984. Analysts had expected a fall to around £15bn. The public sector net [...]
Tight credit conditions kept lending subdued last month July 20, 2010 BRITISH firms and households still face tight credit conditions despite an overall improvement in economic activity, the Bank of England’s Trends in Lending report revealed yesterday. Net lending to businesses fell for the third consecutive month in May and by £2.3bn, worse than April’s £1.1bn. But the annual decline eased to 8.1 per cent from [...]
US housing starts hit 8-month low July 20, 2010 US housing starts hit their lowest level in eight months in June providing fresh evidence of a double-dip in the American property market, data showed yesterday. The Commerce Department said that housing starts fell by five per cent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 549,000 units, the lowest level since October. But building permits figures [...]
Bank of Canada hikes rates July 20, 2010 The Bank of Canada hiked its benchmark overnight rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 basis points yesterday, while at the same time marginally downgrading its growth forecasts for 2010 to 3.5 per cent from 3.7 per cent and for 2011 to 2.9 per cent from 3.1 per cent.
UK mortgage lending up in June July 20, 2010 UK mortgage lending rose by 15 per cent in June to an estimated £13.1bn from £11.4bn in May, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders published yesterday. Gross lending was also seven per cent higher compared to June last year, when mortgage lending stood at £12.2bn. However, lending in the first half of [...]
