The UK’s small and medium-sized manufacturers have seen the volume of orders at home and abroad grow at the fastest rate in 16 years, according to the latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI) SME Trends Survey. Headcount increased for the third consecutive quarter as firms tried to keep up with demand, and output is expected [...]
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is urging Chancellor George Osborne to provide a “relentless focus” on economic growth and job creation when he presents his annual budget later this month. In a letter to the Chancellor, the business lobby group said action must be taken in order to boost the economic recovery. Over recent [...]
Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, experienced growth of 6.1% in 2010 compared with the previous year. This represented the fastest annual rate for six years - boosted by consumer spending and investment. The figures made it among the best performers in the G20 developing countries and the economy is now on track to [...]
Banking giant Barclays has received a fine of £7.7 million - imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) over poor investment advice. The City Watchdog has also ordered the bank to compensate up to £60 million to customers of two investment funds. The bank has apologised for the failures and said it will “put things [...]
Brazil appears to be bucking the trend after creating 1.3 million jobs last year - when other economies have battling with rising unemployment. The economy has been going from strength to strength, growing by an annualised rate of 5%. The country’s labour minister expects to create a further 2 million jobs in 2010 and, as [...]
Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a rise in UK car production for the month of October. UK car production rose 6% versus the same month a year ago, the SMMT said with the total number of cars produced at 112,798. For the year-to-date, car production is 31% [...]
Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a rise in UK car production for the month of September. UK car production rose 5.8% against the same month a year ago, the SMMT said. For the year-to-date, car production is 35% higher than in the same period last year, the [...]
Employers’ group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has today said it is against existing banking giants being broken up. The comments from the CBI come just a few weeks after Britain’s Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) said it was looking at ways to increase competition and choice among high street banks. One option could [...]
Retired British homeowners have total property wealth of up to £775 billion, according to equity release firm, Key Retirement Solutions, with research also suggesting they have gained a collective £7.94 billion in the past three months alone, despite the fragility of the UK housing market. The biggest winners over the summer months were retired homeowners [...]
Britain’s manufacturers are continuing to report “buoyant trading conditions” on the back of rising demand in overseas markets, according to a joint study from trade organisation, EEF, and accountancy firm BDO LLP. In their latest “Manufacturing Outlook” report, the pair suggest that the recovery begun at the end of last year has been sustained, with [...]
Research by estate agent Knight Frank has found the number of second homeowners in England has soared to a record level of almost a quarter of a million. According to the estate agent, a change in holiday plans mean an increasing amount of buyers believe that a second home is “an investment, rather than a [...]
Eco-tycoon Dale Vince is poised to take over cash-strapped football club Forest Green, according to media speculation. Vince, 48, built his £85 million empire on wind power, making him Britain’s wealthiest green entrepreneur. He is understood to have met up with Forest Green’s executives, including chairman David Drew, operations director Colin Peake and manager Dave [...]
Earlier this month, Business Secretary Vince Cable warned that the UK’s car industry will not receive any further funding from the Government but said it would consider investing in measures which would reduce emissions from cars and to help transform the UK into a low carbon economy. As a result, the Government has today unveiled [...]
A £3m fund designed to help social enterprises expand has closed after making only one investment in two years. Triodos, the bank operating the fund, said most social enterprises are not yet ready for large capital injections. “The recession is having an impact,” said Charles Middleton, Triodos UK managing direction. “But our experience was mainly [...]
As expected, Chancellor George Osborne has today revealed plans to simplify the UK tax system, in a bid to encourage investment and stimulate economic growth. The Chancellor said the “spaghetti bowl” of UK tax law will be simplified and said: “The previous government took a complex tax system and made it even worse. A decade [...]
Chancellor George Osborne will today reveal plans to simplify the UK tax system, in a bid to encourage investment and drive economic growth. Since coming to power, the coalition Government has argued that the UK tax system is too complicated and has been proposing to make it simpler. Mr Osborne is set to announce that [...]
Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan has kicked off the banking reporting season today with better-than-expected second quarter profits - due to better credit conditions. The bank reported net income of $4.8 billion (£3.1 billion) - a 75% increase on the $2.7 billion reported in the same period a year ago. Today’s figures from JP Morgan [...]
Google has secretly invested over $100 million in online gaming company Zynga, it has emerged. If the reports are true, the investment represent’s the search engine giant’s first major foray into web gaming. Zynga is responsible for some of the best-known online games, including Farmville and Mafia Wars on social networking site Facebook. The investment [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% state-owned, has today announced it will axe a further 500 positions within its wealth management division, as part of its three-year restructuring plan. Since its bailout at the height of the financial crisis, the bank has shed approximately 23,100 jobs and today’s announcement comes less than a [...]
The world’s largest technology company by sales, Hewlett-Packard (HP), has today announced it is to reduce headcount by 9,000. The Palo Alto, California-based company said the job losses will be the result of productivity gains and automation, in order to provide “next-generation services” which will benefit clients. It said: “As a result of productivity gains [...]
European equities markets were higher Tuesday as banks came back from big declines on Monday, helped by a statement from Societe Generale’s (Euronext: GLE) CEO that his bank is healthy. The FTSE 100 was up 0.87 percent to 5,174.25 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.27 percent to 10,011, with banks the best performers [...]
Rics: Housing market remains in the doldrums
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today reported that the UK housing market remained weak in August with house prices falling further. According to the Institution, homeowners remain reluctant to put their properties up for sale, while buyers continue to struggle to secure a mortgage and remain uncertain about the economic climate. The [...]
CML: Mortgage lending edges higher in July
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported the number of loans for house purchase rose in July. According to the Council, there were 48,400 loans advanced for house purchase in the month – up by 1,000 from June’s figure but almost 7,000 lower when compared with July 2010. Commenting on today’s figures, Paul Smee, [...]
UK inflation edges higher in August
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.5% last month from July’s rate of 4.4%. However, the figure was in line with analysts’ expectations. Higher inflation continues to be led by rising food costs but the main reason behind last month’s rise was a 5.1% [...]
Fresnillo down on silver prices
European equities markets were lower Monday on the possibility that Greece could default soon and on speculation that Moody’s Investors Service could cut its rating on several big banks with holdings tied to Greece. The FTSE 100 was down 1.63 percent to 5,129.62 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.65 percent to 9,983.75 as [...]
IFS warns of tough times for UK households
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that households will be squeezed for the next decade as they suffer from the harsh spending cuts introduced by the Government. It said households are suffering one of the worst attacks on their finances since the Second World War and that the impact of [...]
ICB final report recommends ring-fencing
The Independent Commission on Banking’s (ICB) final report has been published today and is recommending that UK banks should ring-fence their retail banking operations. According to the report, ring-fencing would protect banks from riskier investment banking divisions and would “make it easier and less costly to resolve banks that get into trouble”. The ICB, which [...]
Tullow Oil leads 100 in London
European equities markets were significantly lower Friday on an increased possibility that Greece could default on its debt as soon as this weekend, raising the concern level over the European region’s debt problems and ratcheting up worries that the economic recovery is faltering. Additionally, markets reacted to the resignation of European Central Bank board member [...]
SMMT: UK car sales rise in August
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have revealed UK car sales saw their first rise in 14 months in August. According to the trade body, car sales rose by 7.3% in August compared with the same month in 2010, with sales of smaller cars rising by more than 30%. The Ford Fiesta remained [...]
Factory gate inflation higher than expected in August
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK producer output prices held steady in August – remaining at the highest annual rate since October 2008. According to the ONS, output prices (factory gate) annual inflation for all manufactured products held steady at July’s upwardly revised reading of 6.1% in August. The figures were [...]
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