Price hike Britain January 18, 2011 Fears were growing last night that Britain faces an explosion in the cost of living, with spiralling inflation threatening to erode savings and squeeze households already facing higher taxes. The consumer price index (CPI) shot up in December at the fastest rate since the Office of National Statistics (ONS) began reporting it in 1996, the [...]
Revenues jump at Eurotunnel January 18, 2011 CHANNEL TUNNEL operator Eurotunnel posted a 26 per cent rise in revenue for 2010 yesterday after the number of trucks carried on its shuttles through the tunnel rose 35 per cent. Eurotunnel said the volcanic ash disruption in April helped the firm return to its historic market share in cross-Channel transport, following the impact of [...]
What to do about financial illiteracy January 10, 2011 HERE is a suggestion for the City’s top banks: each should make an immediate and very large donation to a special new educational fund for financial literacy. I’m talking real money here, hundreds of millions for each of the mega-banks, as well as contributions from big insurers and wealth managers – when I first started [...]
Falling real wages don’t have to mean pain January 6, 2011 THANKS to inflation of 4.7 per cent, most workers will probably see cuts in the real purchasing power of their salaries in 2011. But there is no reason for that to cut into your living standards. Here are some easy New Year’s resolutions to follow that will help you endure austerity Britain without feeling too [...]
TOP FIVE DRIVES December 7, 2010 THE NÜRBURGRING Sooner or later any sports car owner that knows his stuff is going to want to take his car for a spin around the Nürburgring, the German race track generally considered to be the toughest and most dangerous race circuit in the world. The Nürburgring remains the benchmark by which car manufacturers measure [...]
AIG accused of excluding buyers from the sale of its rail-car unit November 22, 2010 BAILED-OUT insurer AIG has put its rail-car unit up for sale, though trade buyers are complaining of being excluded from the auction, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The assets of AIG Rail Services have a book value of about $660m but it was not clear how much American International Group was seeking for the [...]
Japan’s Marubeni enters bidding in Kwik-Fit auction November 22, 2010 TYRE firm Kwik-Fit may be snapped up by Japanese giant Marubeni. Marubeni, which employs 29,000 people and is one of the largest general trading companies in Japan, was previously keen to acquire the tyre wholesaler Micheldever. But exclusive talks with Graphite Capital broke down after Marubeni dropped its offer from the agreed £200m. Now it [...]
Twenty per cent off property in paradise November 18, 2010 IT FEELS wrong to be delighted by the financial crisis, doesn’t it? But if you were reclining on a sun-lounger in 30°C heat with a sparkling ocean stretching out in front of you, it would be difficult not to. Especially if you had managed to buy a Caribbean dream home on the cheap. The numbers [...]
Chaucer aims to grow car insurance arm November 18, 2010 INSURER Chaucer will expand its UK motoring operations as part of an ambitious new growth strategy. It says the push into motoring insurance will involve a “significant” presence on price-comparison websites. Chaucer wants to balance its exposure to the catastrophe business, which offers high returns but high volatility, with a greater input to the lower-risk [...]
How Big Mother ensures success November 11, 2010 EVERY mother will feel Sara Murray’s anxiety when she says: “I was at a supermarket checkout, I turned round for a moment and when I turned back my daughter was gone. I spoke to security and while they searched the store they told me to stand by the exit of the car park and check [...]