Discount clothing retailer, Primark, has today warned of a slowdown in consumer spending, as Britons prepare to cut back amid rising unemployment and higher inflation. According to Primark’s parent group, Associated British Foods (ABF), “a noticeable slowing down of UK consumer demand” is evident despite strong trading in the first three months of the financial [...]
The slowdown in consumer spending looks set to continue after the John Lewis Partnership, which is regarded as a barometer of British retailing, reported a further fall in weekly sales. The renowned employee-owned chain said department store sales fell 0.9% o £49.5 million in the week to 29 January. In the week to 22 January, [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales fell by 11.5% in January compared with the same month in 2010. It represents the seventh consecutive monthly fall. The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 128,811. However, the fall was in line with the [...]
Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a strong rise in UK car production for the 2010 year. UK car production grew by 27.1% during 2010 to 1.27 million cars compared with 2009, with growth up 10.6% in December alone. In addition, commercial vehicles (vans and trucks) also saw [...]
Budget airline easyJet has today said it was hit by the severe wintry weather in Europe last month and was hit by costs of £31 million, which also included strike action by French air traffic controllers. However, taking this into account, the airline said revenue in its first quarter (the final three months of 2010) [...]
Wm Morrison Supermarkets has today reported a rise in Christmas and New Year sales, despite the bad weather which gripped most of the country during December. The grocer, which is Britain’s fourth largest, said like-for-like sales grew 1% in the six-week period over Christmas and New Year compared with the same period a year ago. [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is expecting the UK’s motor industry to face a challenging few months amid “difficult conditions”. The comments from the industry body come shortly after it announced sales of new cars in the UK rose by 1.8% in 2010, although volumes were still at their second-lowest in the [...]
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has again revised its forecasts for the airline industry. According to the industry body, global airlines will make a profit of $15.1 billion (£9.5 billion) this year. The figure is 70% higher than its previous forecast made in September and significantly better than its anticipated loss of $2.8 billion [...]
Standard Chartered bank has today unveiled a 10% increase in profits for the half-year ending June 30. The bank, which has a strong presence in Asia, said pre-tax profit came in at £1.96 billion during the six month period, a rise from the £1.78 billion it made in the same period a year earlier. Commenting [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales grew by 10.8% in June compared with the same month in 2009. The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 195,226 – representing the 12th consecutive monthly rise and exceeded expectations. However, the Society warns that [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales grew by 13.5% in May compared with the same month in 2009. The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 153,095 compared with 134,858 in May 2009 – this represented the 11th consecutive monthly rise. However, [...]
It has been announced today that Newcastle Building Society is to close four branches and axe 126 jobs. The Newcastle, which is the UK’s eighth largest building society, said the affected branches are: West Road in Newcastle, Crook in County Durham, Yarm in Stockton-on-Tees and York, and the cuts will bring its branch total down [...]
Supermarket giant Morrisons has today reported same store sales rose by 0.8% in the 13 weeks to 2 May, much lower than the 6% growth reported in the year to January 31. Despite the slower sales growth, the Bradford-based retailer said it is outperforming its competitors and industry data shows it remains the fastest-growing of [...]
Construction giant Laing O’Rourke, the company which is running the building project for the London 2012 Olympic Games, has announced it is to reduce its headcount. In an email to staff, the company said: “With your help, the suggested changes will create a more efficient and effective organisational structure with the appropriate levels of professional [...]
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body set up to manage taxpayers’ interests in rescued banks, has today admitted that returning investments to the private sector will be “challenging”. According to the body, each household in the country has over £3,000 invested in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which are 43% and [...]
British Airways (BA) has announced a pre-tax loss of £401 million for the 12 months to the end of March, compared with profits of £922 million the previous year. While the loss is double what analysts’ estimates, it also represents the biggest loss since the company was privatised in 1987. Many airlines continue to experience [...]
Banking and insurance group, ING, is set to shed 7,000 positions from its workforce as it looks to save €1 billion (£949 million), as a result of challenging economic conditions. The job losses represent 5.4% of its 130,000 workforce but the Dutch firm has not given details yet as to where the jobs will be [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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