Economics
Mortgage lending The number of mortgages taken out by homebuyers fell
by 19 per cent during January. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders
showed that 50,300 buyers were granted a home loan, 34 per cent lower than
in January last year.
House prices rose by 1.7 per cent in February. Figures from the
Department of Communities and Local Government show that the average price
of a home rose to £221,758 last month, up by 8 per cent on February last
year.
German investor confidence improved during March. The closely watched
sentiment indicator from the Mannheim-based ZEW research institute rose to
minus 32, from minus 39.5 in February.
US consumer confidence fell to a 2½-year low in March. The influential
IBD/TIPP economic optimism index fell to 42.5, from February’s 44.5. A
reading below 50 indicates pessimism.
Central banks have pumped $280 billion (£138.8 billion) of liquidity
into global markets. The US Federal Reserve offered up to $200 billion of
Treasury bonds to the big investment banks in return for their damaged
mortgage-backed securities. This is on top of the $200 billion that the Fed
made available last Friday.
China’s inflation rate hit 8.7 per cent in February, the highest
level in nearly 12 years and up from the 7.1 per cent recorded in January.
Chinese consumers could be driving the growth in their own economy
soon, thanks to rising wages, with spending set to almost double in key
areas, according to a survey by Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank.
Banking
& finance
Old Mutual, the Anglo-South African financial group, has called off
talks to sell its 75 per cent stake in Mutual & Federal to Royal
Bafokeng Holdings after failing to “agree mutually acceptable terms in the
current environment”, the company said.
Société Générale, France's second-largest bank,
said that it has raised €5.5 billion (£4.19 billion) through a rights issue
in an attempt to end the crisis sparked by its rogue trader scandal which
had cost it almost €5 billion. Investors had applied for nearly twice the
number of stocks that the bank had offered in the capital raising exercise.
Dowgate Capital, the AIM-listed corporate finance group and
stockbroker, reported a full-year pre-tax profit of £1.2 million, up by 42
per cent on 2006.
BUPA, the private healthcare insurer, reported a record full-year
pre-tax profit of £429 million, up by 19 per cent, but gave warning that
profits were likely to be lower this year because of recent deals and its
departure from Ireland.
Carlyle Capital Corporation, the Dutch-listed affiliate of Carlyle, the
American private equity group, said that banks had seized and sold another
$700 million (£349 million) of its assets, bringing the total liquidated to
$5.7 billion.
Friends Provident JC Flowers, the American private equity group, plans
to meet Friends Provident “as soon as possible” to discuss an offer for the
struggling insurer. Friends announced a 97 per cent fall in full-year
underlying pre-tax profits to £16 million.
Egg Ian Kerr, the chief executive of Egg, the internet bank which was
accused of withdrawing credit cards from thosands of responsible customers,
has resigned. He will be replaced by Bert Pijls, the country manager for
Citigroup, Egg’s parent company, in the Czech Republic.
Citigroup, the American bank, has committed $1 billion to bail-out six
internal hedge funds which have been hit by the disarray in the municipal
bond market, adding fuel to fears that a fund meltdown could be on the way.
Construction
& property
Marylebone Warwick Balfour, the property group behind Malmaison Hotels,
has admitted that it had “no idea” whether it would be able to meet its
end-of-year deadline for selling its assets.
Consumer goods
Cadbury Schweppes has secured $3.8 billion (£1.88 billion) in financing
to demerge its confectionery and US drinks arms.
Greggs Sir Michael Darrington, managing director of Greggs, the baker,
announced that he would step down after 24 years in charge and said that
commodity traders were more to blame for driving up the price of wheat,
rather than poor harvests or farmland given over to biofuels.
Engineering
Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, slumped to a record loss
last year as weakness in the US dollar wiped more than €1 billion (£764
million) from the company’s earnings.
Weir Group, the Glasgow-based manufacturer of pumps for the mining
industry, reported a 56 per cent rise in full-year underlying profits of
£120.2 million.
Health
Ark Therapeutics, the healthcare group which is focused on treatments
for vascular disease and cancer, reported a full-year pre-tax loss of £20
million, on revenues of £1.1 million.
Industrials
Cookson Group, the materials technology company, said its shareholders
had voted to approve its £497 million takeover of Foseco, its rival. Cookson
also reported a 14 per cent increase in full-year pre-tax profits of £149.6
million, after a strong improvement in its ceramics division driven by
demand from the steel industry.
Leisure
Clapham House, the restaurant operator behind the Gourmet Burger
Kitchen and Tootsies chains, is understood to have received approaches from
private equity groups for its individual brands and also for the company as
a whole.
The Alternative Hotel Group, which owns the De Vere and Village brands,
is to close the De Vere head office in Warrington, Cheshire, in July as part
of a restructuring that will result in a number of redundancies.
Media
Tangent Communications, the marketing group, is trying to buy TMN, its
rival, for £40 million. The company said it has already received backing
from Hargreave Hale and William Currie, two TMN investors.
Live Nation, the concert promotion company, emerged as a surprise
bidder for the Rolling Stones back catalogue of hits as the band considers
ending its relationship with EMI, the music group.
Clear Channel Communications Thomas H Lee, one of the private equity
groups behind the near $20 billion (£9.9 billion) buyout of Clear Channel
Communications, the US media conglomerate, said it was confident that the
deal would go through.
Natural
resources
Antofagasta, the FTSE 100 mining group which is based in Chile,
reported a 2.1 per cent increase in full-year net earnings, missing market
expectations, as stronger metal prices were offset by lower copper
production and rising costs.
Retailing
Marks & Spencer sparked a furious reaction from leading
institutional investors by announcing that Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive,
would be given the dual role of executive chairman from June 1 in a deal to
retain him until 2011.
Tesco, the supermarket group, announced £170 million of price cuts and
claimed that this took its total level of reductions to nearly £600 million
since January.
Support
services
G4S, the security group, reported a 9 per cent increase in full-year
underlying pre-tax profits, driven by growth in emerging markets.
Interserve, the business support group, reported a 26.3 per cent rise
in full-year profits, beating analysts’ expectations.
Amec, the engineering services group, reported that its full-year
adjusted pre-tax profits had risen by 59 per cent to £126.5 million, beating
analysts’ forecasts.
Technology
Google, the US online search engine, said that it has completed the
$3.1 billion (£1.54 billion) acquisition of DoubleClick, the American online
advertising technology group, just hours after receiving antitrust clearance
from the European Commission.
National Grid Wireless The £2.5 billion proposed merger of National
Grid Wireless and Arqiva, the UK’s two biggest broadcasting transmitter
operators, has been given the go-ahead by the Competition Commission.
Telecoms
Vodafone, the mobile phone group, is being pursued by the Indian Income
Tax Department after its acquisition last year of a majority stake in
Hutchison Essar, the Indian mobile phone operator, for $11 billion (£5.45
billion). The legal battle has been deferred until the summer.
Transport
BAA Britain’s leading airlines have called for the break-up of BAA, the
airports operator, after the Civil Aviation Authority allowed it to raise
landing fees at Heathrow and Gatwick.
British Airways The threat of disruption to British Airways flights
over Easter has been averted after pilots said they would not strike over
the holiday period.
Utilities
Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has formed a joint venture with
Intelligent Energy to develop fuel cell-based combined heat and power
systems. SSE said it will initially invest £1 million for a 50 per cent
share in the new company.
