Kesa Electricals, the company that owns Comet, is predicting a challenging year ahead after the group reported a pre-tax loss of £81.8 million in the year to April, compared with a pre-tax profit of £128.8 million the previous year. The company, which also owns the Darty business in France, has been hit by the recession [...]
Banking giant, Lloyds Banking Group, is expected to take a hit of £450 million as a result of its investment in pub chain Admiral Taverns. In order to finance a series of acquisitions, the group’s Bank of Scotland arm loaned more than £850 million to Admiral but the pub group, which owns more than 2000 [...]
Housebuilder, Bovis, has announced that it expects to complete 1,800 homes during 2008, compared with 2,930 last year. The group’s stock of unsold homes stands at over 900, despite price reductions and an incentive scheme aimed at attracting buyers. The slowdown in the private housing market is forcing the builder to focus more on the [...]
Barclays, the UK’s third largest bank, has announced it has taken a further £1 billion write-down in credit crunch related debt but added that the business was profitable in spite of challenging trading conditions. However, unlike some of its rivals, it has not asked its investors for additional cash through a rights issue. Rights issues [...]
Alliance & Leicester (A&L), has announced it will write-down £391 million on treasury investments as well as on its exposures to structured investment vehicles and collateralised debt obligations, of £192 million. Furthermore, treasury investment fair-values declined £199 million in the first 4 months, against a fall of £147 million in the same period last year. [...]
Wall Street bank, JPMorgan Chase, announced a 50% fall in its first quarter profits as the bank was hit by a $5.1 billion (£2.5 billion) sub-prime write-down. Revenue for the first quarter fell by 11% to $16.9 billion, marginally ahead of analysts who were expecting turnover at $16.8 billion. America’s third biggest bank, which bailed [...]
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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