China may be larger than US by 2016 April 25, 2011 IF the International Monetary Fund is right, whoever is elected President of the United States next year will be the last American to preside over the world’s largest economy. By 2016, the IMF believes, China will have overtaken the US as the biggest economy – the first time it actually pins a year on this [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES MPS PRESSURE VICKERS TO DEFINE BANK BONUS RULES Sir John Vickers is facing pressure from senior MPs to widen his work on making banks safer by defining new bonus transparency rules, to provide an early warning of the build-up of risk. Members of the Commons treasury committee will next month urge Sir John [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA TO ALTER TAXES IN ATTEMPT TO CUT WEALTH GAP China is to lift the exemption threshold for personal income tax payments in an effort to redistribute the spoils of rapid growth and reduce a widening wealth gap. The level at which Chinese citizens must pay income tax will be raised from Rmb2,000 [...]
A string of strong earnings reports sends FTSE jumping April 20, 2011 COMMODITY stocks helped power the FTSE 100 index sharply higher yesterday, while earnings from Reckitt Benckiser and Home Retail, following US tech bellwether Intel, boosted risk appetite. The FTSE 100 closed up 125.39 points, or 2.1 per cent, at 6,022.26 following a 0.5 per cent gain on Tuesday. This wiped out Monday’s 2.1 per cent [...]
Burberry sales jump April 19, 2011 Luxury group Burberry said a strong finish to the year delivered a 33 per cent rise in underlying fourth-quarter sales and would result in full-year profit at the top end of expectations. The 155-year-old maker of raincoats and handbags said on Tuesday it made £390m of revenues in the three months ended March, excluding its [...]
Philips seals China TV deal as profit slips April 18, 2011 PHILIPS is offloading part of its TV arm in the first step by new chief executive Frans van Houten to boost flagging profit at Europe’s biggest consumer electronics maker. Philips is moving its loss-making TV business into a joint venture with Hong-Kong based monitor maker TPV and has the option to sell out. The deal [...]
Nestle in deal for stake in China food firm April 18, 2011 Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, agreed to take a 60 per cent stake in China’s Yinlu Foods Group for an undisclosed price, becoming the latest multinational to target China’s fast-growing food and beverage sector. Family-owned Yinlu had sales of about 750 million Swiss francs (£515.9m ) in 2010, Nestle said in a statement on [...]
Return to home ground makes perfect sense for the UK’s traditional outfitter April 17, 2011 COMING after weeks of share price volatility following the Japan earthquake, Ahrendts’ enthusiasm for London could look like a miscalculated retrenchment, especially when Burberry’s Asian sales grew 50 per cent in the first six months of 2010. So has market uncertainty really spooked Ahrendts that much? The answer is a definite no. Far from turning [...]
Price of mangoes shows how inflation is biting April 17, 2011 I finished work the other evening and was in the mood for a mango salad. So, full of anticipation, I stopped by my local grocers only to be met by a horrible sign. Mangoes: £2.40. Each. What? Since when? Since inflation started spiralling out of control, that is. Chinese price rises are the latest big [...]
China inflation jumps to 32-month high April 15, 2011 China’s turbo-charged growth eased just a touch in the first quarter, while its inflation jumped to a 32-month high, putting pressure on the government to do more to rein in prices and keep the economy on an even keel. China’s gross domestic product increased by 9.7 per cent in the first quarter from a year [...]