Volkswagen posts higher profit despite tough trading conditions October 30, 2013 Volkswagen have posted an operating profit of €2.77bn (£2.38bn), despite difficult market conditions. That's up from last year's €2.32bn. Group deliveries increased by 4.8 per cent to 7.2m vehicles worldwide. In spite of negative conditions in Europe and exchange rate impacts, sales revenue increased to €146bn in the first nine months of 2013. Volkswagen's share [...]
Regulator threatens “revolutionary” approach to achieve asset management transparency October 30, 2013 Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is to call for greater transparency in asset management at today's 2013 FCA Asset Management Conference. Wheatley will say that "this is a critical period for the industry" and that the FCA will now ask challenging questions. Are we internationally competitive? Are charges and fees [...]
German unemployment sees unexpected rise in October October 30, 2013 German unemployment has risen by a seasonally adjust 2,000 in October, after rising by 24,000 (revised from 25,000) last month. Economists had expected no change. The adjusted unemployment rate remains at 6.9 per cent, in line with analyst expectations. Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg, says that the number of unemployed "was almost unchanged". Schulz [...]
Legoland owner Merlin announces share price for London listing October 30, 2013 Merlin entertainments has announced it will be offering its shares between 280 and 330 pence in a float that will see between 20 and 30 per cent the company sold off. The company may be valued at as much as £3.3bn. Merlin Entertainments is the world's second largest theme park operator with more than 70 [...]
As Spanish economy exits two year recession warnings that it could see contraction again in 2014 October 30, 2013 Spain has seen the first positive GDP print in over two years, as GDP grew in the third quarter by 0.1 per cent, in line with economist predictions. That's the first rise in Spanish GDP since the first quarter of 2011, and Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics, says that the "pick-up is likely [...]
Government promotes media freedom abroad while Cameron threatens UK press October 29, 2013 The government has just published a release entitled "UK support for media freedom", on a recent workshop on freedom of the media. Stephen Hickey, the British deputy ambassador, said "was an important discussion about the challenge facing media freedoms in Egypt". Some of the ideas discussed included "media independence of state control". On Monday, Prime [...]
It’s 2013 and Blackberry have released an app for 2008 – and it’s showing October 29, 2013 Last week we reported that Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for Android and iOS had 10m downloads in 24 hours. Blackberry have now announced the addition of 20m users in the first week. Those numbers put BBM leagues behind seasoned competitors like WhatsApp, which has 350m active users. BBM was very popular on its release in 2008, [...]
Rental chain Blockbuster goes into administration (again) October 29, 2013 Blockbuster has fallen into administration after suffering from poor trading, according to private equity firm owner Gordon Brothers Europe. Stores will continue trading while a buyer is sought for a business, while efforts "will now be focused on giving the company a chance of future survival through a reduced and different business model". Frank Morton, [...]
The UK is the most expensive place in the developed world to enforce a contract October 29, 2013 Contract enforcement in the UK is the most expensive in the developed world – as disputes take an average of 437 days to resolve. In Singapore it takes just 150. The UK ranks as just the 56th best country in the world in which to enforce a contract. The average cost is a staggering 39.9 [...]
US retail sales fall unexpectedly on lower auto numbers October 29, 2013 US retail sales have dropped by 0.1 per cent in September, despite consensus analyst estimates suggesting that sales would grow by 0.1 per cent in that month. Excluding automobiles sales rose by 0.4 per cent, as forecast by economists. In August total sales rose by 0.2 per cent according to the US Census Bureau data. [...]
