Carlsberg hit by Russia sales and rising costs February 18, 2013 DANISH brewer Carlsberg said yesterday it had scrapped its profit margin target for eastern Europe, blaming volatile markets and raw material costs, and dampening hopes the region can offset sluggish demand in western Europe. The world’s fourth-biggest brewer said that sales growth had stalled in its key Russian market and the cost of an efficiency [...]
The three geopolitical red herrings that the markets can safely ignore February 14, 2013 EACH year, Eurasia Group releases its top risks report, where we consider the ten biggest geopolitical threats to markets and economies, judged by probability and potential impact. So what’s on our radar for 2013? The top risk is now found in emerging markets, as the world’s focus shifts back to the developing world and away [...]
An explosive return for the bad boy of opera February 14, 2013 BALLET MIXED PROGRAMME Royal Opera House **** The Royal Opera House’s mixed programme of ballet, marking the 25th anniversary of renowned dancer and choreographer Frederick Ashton’s death, was bound to be an explosive affair. It saw the dramatic return of Sergei Polunin – the former bad boy of British ballet – to the stage he [...]
A Good Day to Die Hard is a ludicrous, outdated relic February 14, 2013 FILM A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD Cert: 12A ** John McClane is a family man. When he purged that New York tower block of eastern European terrorists in 1988, he wasn’t doing it out of patriotic or professional duty – he was doing it for his wife who was trapped in the building. A [...]
Rosneft and Exxon in Arctic tie-up February 13, 2013 Oil giants Rosneft and ExxonMobil yesterday agreed to expand their cooperation agreement to include an extra 600,000 square kilometres of exploration acreage in the Arctic. The agreement includes seven new offshore licences in the Chukchi, Laptev and Kara seas. Russia’s Rosneft and the US’s Exxon have already agreed to jointly tap hydrocarbon deposits in Russia’s [...]
How to gain emerging market exposure February 12, 2013 IT IS a well-known story. Emerging markets are playing a more significant role in global economic growth. Recent research from PwC has highlighted that emerging market GDP will exceed that of developed markets, in terms of purchasing power parity (which adjusts for differences in exchange rates), for the first time in 2013. Since 2002, the [...]
Heathrow traffic edges higher as Gatwick slides in the snow February 11, 2013 PASSENGER traffic at Heathrow inched up in January, in spite of cancellations caused by snow flurries, the airport’s owner said yesterday. Heathrow Limited, owned by Spanish firm Ferrovial and formerly known as BAA, said 5.18m people used the UK’s busiest airport last month, up 0.3 per cent on a year ago. Domestic travel fell 5.8 [...]
OECD indicator points to firmer UK economy in middle of 2013 February 11, 2013 SIGNS from the UK economy suggest that it will recover mildly over 2013, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD’s latest composite leading indicator (CLI), predicting economic conditions six months from last December again increased, but this time by only 0.09 points. This follows on the heels of stronger injections [...]
Don’t let the rise of the Brics mask burgeoning opportunities in the Gulf February 10, 2013 ONE of the most striking phrases in David Cameron’s recent speech on Europe was his recognition “that a new global race of nations is underway today”. Adapting to a fast-changing global economic order is critical to the continued prosperity of the UK. Over the past decade, a huge amount of focus has – quite rightly [...]
Osborne does the wrong thing while Hourican takes the fall February 6, 2013 DEPUTY heads must roll. It’s impossible to decrypt yesterday’s Libor-rigging settlement between Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and regulators in the UK and US without being reminded of that immortal phrase. John Hourican, who will step down as the boss of RBS’s investment bank at the end of April, is entitled to feel hard done [...]