Record for foreigners in UK shopping bonanza September 6, 2010 LAST month was the busiest on record for international shoppers hitting UK stores, a new survey showed today. Sales were up 18 per cent with shoppers from China, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia leading the boom. The hike came despite Middle Eastern shoppers heading home for religious festival Ramadan during the month. The growth in Chinese [...]
Gazprom mulls float of units September 6, 2010 RUSSIAN energy company Gazprom said yesterday it planned to combine its numerous electricity holdings under a single entity that it would float on the stock market. Combining the assets, some of them large electricity providers, would create Russia’s second-biggest power producer after state-controlled Rushydro, Renaissance Capital analyst Vladimir Sklyar said. The consolidation would be done [...]
Food inflation to benefit UK supermarkets September 6, 2010 UPWARD pressures on food prices appear to be here to stay. Global demand is increasing while droughts and fires last month hit harvests in Russia and Ukraine. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel anticipates that UK grocery inflation will rise to an annualised 4 per cent by the end of 2010 from its current rate of 2 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 2, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LENDERS SHUNNED ON STRESS TESTS DOUBTS Leading UK and continental European companies are increasingly shunning banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide stress testing of banks gave a true picture of their financial health. Corporate treasurers from groups with revenues of more than $240bn told the [...]
Cold winter boosts Gazprom September 2, 2010 RUSSIA’S Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas producer, beat forecasts for first-quarter sales and profit, as a surge in domestic revenues offset a sharp drop in prices to European customers. Gazprom supplies a quarter of the European Union’s gas needs, but economic weakness has slashed demand, and some customers there have secured lower prices on long-term [...]
World trade picks up again as economy begins to recover September 1, 2010 WORLD trade continued to rebound strongly in the first half of this year, rising by over a quarter from year-ago levels, with emerging economies showing particularly powerful export growth, World Trade Organisation (WTO) figures showed yesterday. Trade typically grows and contracts at much faster rates than the overall economy, but the WTO data confirm the [...]
Rusal swings back into the black again August 31, 2010 Russia’s Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer, said yesterday it swung back to the black in the second quarter as sales increased, and added it plans to launch depositary receipts in Russia later this year. In total, for the six months to the end of June Rusal produced a net profit of $1.27bn (£825m), compared [...]
Weather fears push up wheat August 30, 2010 Western European wheat markets extended gains yesterday as adverse crop weather in the southern hemisphere and harvest rain in Germany reinforced concerns about global supply in the wake of a severe drought in Russia. Benchmark European futures in Paris broke resistance levels to hit new three-week highs, while Germany’s cash market set a 28-month peak [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 25, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES US CHAINS BEEF UP MEALS TO LIFT PROFITS Fast-food chains in the US are rolling out more expensive premium products after two years of relentless focus on lower priced meals in the hope of recouping profit margins surrendered during the recession of 2008 and 2009. McDonald’s is selling a “smokehouse deluxe” burger in [...]
Sorrell: I am a Luvvy for the Brics August 24, 2010 WPP yesterday upgraded its expectations for the global economy from a“Luv” to a “Luvvy”. The firm split its expectations for the pace of the global recovery into three sections: Western Europe, the US and the Bric nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). It predicted the recovery in Western Europe would be formed by a sharp [...]