News Tag: improvement
March 9, 2010
Figures published by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) have revealed a sharp fall in the deficit of the UK’s defined benefit pension schemes.
According to the PPF, the deficit was trimmed to £15.1 billion at the end of February from £51.9 billion at the end of January.
It is also a significant improvement on February 2009 when the deficit stood at ...
PPF: DB pension scheme deficit falls in February
by Kay Murchie
March 5, 2010
The world’s largest advertising group WPP has seen an improvement in profits after a ‘brutal’ 2009.
The advertising giant said pre-tax profits had tumbled by 16% year-on-year to £812 million. However, this was better than the £780 million forecast.
Meanwhile, revenue grew by 16% to £8.7 billion, while like-for-like sales fell 8%.
The company was hit severely hard by the economic downturn and, as ...
WPP expects stability in 2010
by Kay Murchie
March 4, 2010
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed February was the seventh consecutive month in which permanent places rose.
According to the report, more full-time jobs were added in February than at any time since July 2007.
The index, which is produced by Markit for the REC and KPMG, grew from 60.5 to 63.2 in February - any ...
Report reveals improvement in jobs market
by Kay Murchie
January 13, 2010
Figures released by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) revealed an improvement in the UK’s 7,400 defined benefit (DB) schemes in December, with the collective deficit falling to £33 billion in December from £92.5 billion the previous month.
The PPF said not only is this is an improvement on the month, it is significantly better than a year ago when the ...
PPF: DB pension scheme deficit falls in December
by Kay Murchie
November 9, 2009
The latest report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and financial services firm, KPMG, shows that there is still no indication that the labour market is anywhere close to returning to its former health.
However, the report does show that while job losses will continue this quarter, it will be at a slower rate than at ...
CIPD/KPMG report shows slight improvement in jobs market
by Kay Murchie
November 4, 2009
Crisis-torn Northern Rock, which is due to be split after receiving approval from the European Union, provided an upbeat statement after it said that in the three months to the end of September, losses from bad loans being written off had lowered, its costs remained under control and net income had risen.
Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit ...
Northern Rock sees improvement prior to split
by Kay Murchie
November 2, 2009
The latest Consumer Confidence Index, released by market research company Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has revealed a rise in consumer confidence.
The index shows an increase to 75, which is 10 points higher than the all-time-low reported in April this year.
However, the BRC cautioned that despite the bounce in confidence, consumers are still concerned over unemployment and future job ...
BRC reports rise in consumer confidence
by Kay Murchie
September 10, 2009
The latest publication of the US Federal Reserve's influential Beige Book reported that the world’s largest economy had improved by the end of last month, albeit labour markets remained weak.
The Beige Book, which is compiled eight times a year, is based on reports and comments from businesses throughout the US and said that the housing market remains “depressed overall”. ...
US Fed’s influential Beige Book sees economy improving
by Kay Murchie
August 28, 2009
The latest distributive trades survey by the Confederation of British Industry has revealed a fall in UK retail sales in August - the fourth consecutive month of declines.
According to the survey, the balance of retailers who had seen a fall in sales rather than a rise had dipped to -16 in August, from -15 the previous month.
Furthermore, the survey revealed ...
CBI reports fall in August retail sales
by Kay Murchie
July 2, 2009
In its latest Credit Conditions Survey, the Bank of England reports that the availability of mortgages with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios above 75% remained broadly unchanged during the three months to mid-June.
However, improvements in the cost and availability of funds meant that a small majority of lenders reported an increase in the availability of secured credit to households, the ...
Lenders optimistic on higher loan-to-value ratios
by Gill Montia
April 1, 2009
The UK manufacturing sector is showing some signs of improvement after the CIPS/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 39.1 last month, up from 34.9 in February.
Anything below the 50 mark represents a contraction in activity, but the pace of decline last month slowed at a faster rate than economists had predicted by economists.
The reading is the highest since the collapse ...
Decline in UK manufacturing slows
by Kay Murchie
October 13, 2008
Prior to today's part nationalisation of Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB, the Intermediary Mortgages Lenders' Association (IMLA) had reported a slight improvement in its members' expectations.
According to an IMLA poll of 486 intermediaries, mortgage brokers expect volumes to decline by 2.3% for first-time buyers over the next two months.
In the case of remortgagers, volume is expected to fall by ...
Mortgage brokers not so gloomy
by Gill Montia
July 30, 2008
The Government wants to improve Home Information Packs (HIPs) to reduce the likelihood of problems emerging well into the sales process.
Under the proposals, HIPS could include a property information questionnaire that would relate to such issues as building work carried out, energy and utility suppliers, parking arrangements and Council Tax banding.
A consultation has been launched to establish what changes are needed to make the buying ...
HIPs to be improved with new questionnaire
by Gill Montia
