Rose: Cut UK deficit as soon as possible March 9, 2010 SIR Stuart Rose yesterday said the next government should cut public spending sooner rather than later, in comments that appeared to back Tory plans. And the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer said consumers were well-prepared for a period of fiscal tightening to reduce the UK’s yawning £178bn budget deficit. “Our customers, Tesco’s customers, Sainsbury’s [...]
Oil and minerals bolster FTSE index despite banking and drugmaker lows March 8, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index hit an 18-month closing high yesterday, led by oil stocks and miners, while drugmakers fell with AstraZeneca pressured after its cancer drug failed in trials. The FTSE 100 ended up 6.96 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,606.72, its highest close since 2 September 2008. The index gained 4.6 per cent [...]
Record low for food inflation March 2, 2010 FOOD PRICES are increasing at their slowest annual rate in three years thanks to the falling cost of fresh food according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC)-Nielsen shop price index published today. Food prices were just 1.3 per cent higher on a year earlier in February compared to an annual increase of 2.9 per cent [...]
Stobart realises £61m from sale March 1, 2010 Transport and logistics group Stobart is selling part of its Inland Ports asset to Legal & General for £61m. The sale includes a 528,000 square foot distribution centre developed by Stobart as the new northern hub for Tesco’s fresh food operations. Stobart said the disposal was part of its strategy to invest in assets to [...]
Northern Rock set to pull state guarantees February 24, 2010 GOVERNMENT guarantees on retail savings in Northern Rock, implemented in late 2007 to protect customer deposits in the wake of a panic-fuelled run on the bank, are to be pulled from the end of May, the Treasury confirmed yesterday. The withdrawal follows the restructuring of the now-nationalised bank into a “good” and “bad” bank at [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF February 22, 2010 Murray wins on Dubai return TENNIS: Britain’s Andy Murray made a winning return to action in his first match since finishing runner-up at last month’s Australian Open. Murray beat Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Dubai Championship. Novak Djokovic, who assumed top seed status after Roger Federer withdrew, also [...]
GlaxoSmithKline and British American Tobacco under pressure as FTSE falls February 22, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed slightly lower yesterday, snapping a five-day winning streak, as weakness from defensive stocks countered gains from banks ahead of more results from the financial sector later in the week. The FTSE 100 closed down 6.10 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,352.07, having closed up 0.6 per cent on Friday [...]
Metro Bank in hiring drive February 22, 2010 METRO Bank, the new high street lender set up by US billionaire Vernon Hill, has selected a team of City veterans as non-executive directors to beef up its board, ahead of an imminent final decision from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on its banking licence. The bank – which is led by Financial Services Forum [...]
Google and Tesco to rival estate agents February 18, 2010 TESCO and Google are poised to offer real estate listings in the UK, radically reshaping the landscape of Britain’s housing market. The consumer giants’ onslaught on the property market comes after a report from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) suggested that legislation dating back to 1979 should be relaxed to allow more online estate [...]
Firms look to offload pension liabilities as burden intensifies February 18, 2010 ALMOST two fifths of UK firms plan to offload some of their dangerously bloated pension scheme liabilities within the next three years, paying a massive premium to insurance companies to take them off their books. One in ten expect to completely shift their pension pots to an insurance firm by 2013, according to the research [...]