The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the riots will cause significant harm to British businesses as they count the costs of stolen and damaged goods. The weekend riots in London have already spread to other parts of the UK and the BRC warned that retailers of all sizes had suffered damage. Prime Minister [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has today unveiled a loss of £1.4 billion for the six months to the end of June. The bank, which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, said its exposure to the Greek debt crisis and costs relating to the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) pushed it into a [...]
Banking giant Barclays is the latest bank to report its half-year profits and announce job losses. The bank said pre-tax profits came in at £2.6 billion for the six months to the end of June, down one third from the same period a year ago. However, chief executive Bob Diamond said he was pleased with [...]
Spanish banking giant Santander has today revealed its first half profits were hit by costs relating to its mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The controversial insurance has been a hot topic for some time now and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) introduced a review of the insurance after millions of policies were mis-sold and [...]
The Treasury department has estimated that the disasters that hit Australia earlier this year will cost the economy AUS$9 billion (£5.8 billion). The figure is considerably higher than a previous estimate of AUS$5.6 billion. Australia, which is one of the few developed economies not to have fallen into recession like its counterparts throughout the world, [...]
According to the World Bank, Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami has caused up to £145 billion ($235 billion) of damage and will impact on the country’s economic growth. The World Bank estimates approximately 0.5% will be reduced from growth this year, as a result, and reconstruction could take five years. The Japanese economy grew [...]
The Labor Department has today revealed US prices rose by 2.1% on an annual basis in February – up from 1.6% in January. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.5% – the fastest rise since June 2009, driven by higher oil and food costs. Food costs rose by 0.6% month-on-month, the most in two-and-a-half [...]
Speculation is mounting again that Portugal may need financial assistance after a sharp rise in bond yields. In early trading, yields on Portuguese 10-year bonds climbed to almost 7.6%, their highest since the euro was introduced more than a decade ago. The country’s borrowing costs have risen in recent months – mimicking what happened in [...]
Oil giant BP has today posted a loss of $4.9 billion (£3.1 billion) for the 2010 year – much higher than analysts has expected. The loss, which was the first in almost 20 years, was attributed to costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. An explosion on a BP oil rig [...]
Oil giant BP has today announced its results for the July to September period. These were delayed by one week because of account complexities relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The company said third-quarter replacement cost profit dived 63% to $1.85 billion (£1.15 billion), this compares with the $17 billion loss reported in [...]
Supermarket giant Asda has announced it is to close its final salary pension scheme – a decision which will affect almost 4,000 employees. The supermarket, which is the UK’s second largest, is the latest in a series of companies to adopt these measures as final salary schemes have become significantly more expensive to operate. A [...]
Home buyers should soon be able to access vital information about their new homes without having to pay for it. The Government has announced that it will abolish the £22 fixed fee for personal searches of councils’ local land charges registers. The searches tell a home buyer about restrictions or issues that affect a property, [...]
Oil giant BP has today reported a massive loss of $16.9 billion in the three months to June as a result of the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company added that costs related to the spill will reach $32.2 billion (£20.8 billion). Excluding oil spill and other non-operating costs, BP’s replacement [...]
The French Government has announced the country’s retirement age will be lifted from 60 to 62 by 2018, as part of a sweeping overhaul to its pension system. The new measures are to be implemented to cut France’s pension costs and reduce public borrowing. However, the shake-up has met with public anger after tens of [...]
Budget airline Ryanair has today announced it returned to profit for the year to March after reporting its first annual loss a year ago. The airline unveiled pre-tax profits of €341 million (£289 million) for the year and said it intends to pay a one-off dividend to shareholders totalling €500 million – the first one [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to 3.7% in April – the highest level in 17 months and far exceeding the 2% target. Furthermore, the increase was much higher than analysts’ expectations. The rise was boosted by food, fuel and clothing price gains. Annual food inflation reached [...]
Official data has revealed US consumer prices rose by a slower-than-expected 0.2% in January. On an annual basis, prices were up 2.6% – also below expectations. The increase was the result of a hike in energy prices, which rose for the ninth month in a row. Over the last year, energy prices have soared 19.1%, [...]
Stagecoach has today reported a fall in first-half profit as a result of higher fuel and pension costs. The bus and rail operator posted a pre-tax profit of £75.5 million in the six months to the end of October – a fall of 28%. However, the profits exceeded market expectations and the group said it [...]
Marks and Spencer (M&S) has revealed it is considering establishing an online food shopping service. The retailing giant has been toying with the idea for some time but opted out due to the costs associated with setting up the service. However, Steve Rowe, the company’s director of retail, told City analysts in London yesterday: “Food [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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