Why Tesco’s cracking results took the Christmas crown January 10, 2013 HOW to find a clear winner in the Christmas battle of the supermarkets? Not from the headline figures, it seems, after straightforward data releases from Sainsbury and Tesco descended into a furore over the small print. Tesco reported like-for-like sales growth of 1.8 per cent over Christmas. Sainsbury reported like-for-like growth of 0.9 per cent. [...]
Ford doubles dividend to seven year high on good balance sheet January 10, 2013 US CAR maker Ford yesterday doubled its quarterly dividend to 10 cents per share, a seven-year high, due to strong sales in North America and its “strong balance sheet”. The increase follows years of struggling during the economic crisis, when Ford suspended its dividends for five years up until December 2011. “We had thought that [...]
2012 marks an end to slack in new car sales January 7, 2013 CAR SALES appeared to have put the worst days of the credit crunch well behind them in 2012, as an upbeat December capped off an impressive year for the market. New car registrations across the whole of 2012 were 2,044,609, up 5.3 per cent of 2011, and the highest since 2008, according to data released yesterday. In [...]
You would be mad to miss this January 3, 2013 FILM Iron Man 3 In cinemas 26 April While Iron Man 2 was met with mixed reviews, director Jon Favreau made a big comeback with The Avengers last year, which quickly became the highest grossing comic book film of all time. Expectations for the third installment of Iron Man, then, are high and so far [...]
Hopes rise for black cab firm after new bid December 20, 2012 VOLVO Car Corporation’s owner Zhejiang Geely has entered the race to take over stricken UK black cab maker Manganese Bronze, after it emerged the Chinese company was in talks to buy the Coventry-based manufacturer. Manganese, which has been making the iconic black cabs through its London Taxi Company since 1948, fell into administration in October [...]
20 of the world’s largest donors December 20, 2012 1 BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION US The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was formed in 2000 through the merger of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, adopting their previous agendas of improving global health and education. With offices in the US, India, China and UK, the foundation has a global [...]
Politicians are powerless to curb our shrinking corporate tax base December 17, 2012 IT IS shocking, isn’t it? Despite UK sales of £7.6bn between 2009 and 2012, Amazon paid almost no corporation tax to the UK Treasury. Starbucks has not paid UK corporation tax in 14 of the past 15 years. Big corporate interests, it seems, are not paying their fair share of tax. An open and shut [...]
Channel your inner James Bond with help from Apsley December 12, 2012 For CHRISTMAS this year, I want to look like James Bond. And I don’t mean Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan – I want to look like Daniel Craig. Can Santa make that happen? The answer is: yes, kind of. You can, at least, dress like him. The most memorable sartorial choice in the latest 007 [...]
UK becomes second-largest EU car market December 6, 2012 BRITAIN is now the second-biggest car market in the EU, according to industry figures released yesterday. UK new car registrations rose 11.3 per cent year-on-year to 149,191 units in November, thanks to increased demand from private purchasers. Total car sales are now on track to top 2m in 2012, according to the Society of Motor [...]
Demand helps support our production December 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S car industry continues to defy those who say this country doesn’t make things any more. And demand at home is helping to drive that resurgence. Industry lobby group the SMMT released data yesterday showing the UK is now the second-largest EU car market by new registrations. Demand has risen year on year in the [...]