Economics
House prices fell by a record 8.1 per cent in the year to July,
according to Nationwide Building Society. Prices fell 1.7 per cent to
£169,316, from £172,415 in June and £15,000 lower than in July 2007.
Consumer confidence The GfK/NOP index of consumer confidence fell to
minus 39 in July, the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 1974.
Pay rises The average rate of pay rises fell to 3.5 per cent in the
three months to June, from 3.6 per cent in the three months to May,
according to Income Data Services.
Inflation Energy price rises alone are set to push inflation up by
nearly 1 per cent to a 16-year high of 5 per cent, far above the Bank of
England’s 2 per cent target, economists have forecast.
Eurozone inflation rose to 4.1 per cent in July, from 4 per cent in
June, well above the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2 percent.
This is the highest inflation figure for the eurozone since measurements
started in 1997.
German unemployment The number of jobless people in Germany fell by
20,000 in July, but the seasonally adjusted jobless rate stayed at 7.8 per
cent.
The US economy grew by an annual rate of 1.9 per cent in the three
months to June, boosted by an emergency tax stimulus by the Government. But
revised figures showed that GDP grew by 0.9 per cent in the first quarter,
previously reported as 1 per cent, while GDP fell by 0.2 per cent in the
final quarter of last year, not the 0.6 per cent gain previously reported.
Banking
& finance
HBOS, the banking group, said that its first-half pre-tax profits had
fallen from £2.99 billion to £848 million as a result of the credit crunch.
Prudential, the UK insurance giant, has stepped up its drive to make
acquisitions in the United States amid signs that the growth of its Asian
business is beginning to slow down.
Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, reported a 64 per cent fall in
second-quarter net profits fell to ¤1.8 billion last time. UBS, the Swiss
bank, is seeking a temporary High Court injunction against Vestra Wealth, a
new wealth manager, as well as its founder, David Scott, and four senior
fund managers to prevent departing executives from poaching valuable
clients.
Construction
& property
Colliers, the commercial real estate consultancy group, slipped to a
first-half pre-tax loss on lower revenue, and said it has deferred a
decision about a dividend until the end of the year when the outlook for
2009 will be clearer.
Consumer
goods
SABMiller, the brewer, reported a 1.6 per cent decline in organic lager
volumes in the three months to the end of June after a 5 per cent fall in
its key China market after the Sichuan earthquake.
Diageo, the world’s biggest drinks group, has bought 6 per cent of
Sichuan Chengdu Quanxing, the Chinese white spirits company, taking its
holding to 49 per cent.
Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group, saw its shares fall
after it reported second-quarter net profits of €978 million (£770 million),
19 per cent lower than last time.
British American Tobacco, the cigarette maker, reported a 16 per cent
rise in its first-half profits to £1.7 billion, compared with £1.5 billion
last time.
Engineering
Tomkins, the engineering and building products group, has had to take a
surprise one-off impairment change against its Stackpole car parts unit in
North America because of lower production volumes of light trucks and sports
utility vehicles.
Manganese Bronze, the black cab maker, said its first-half profits had
risen to £1.5 million and added that it has available cash and no long-term
borrowings.
Health
AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish drugs maker, raised its full-year
earnings forecast as it reported a 9 per cent increase in second-quarter
sales and a 7 per cent rise in core earnings per share.
Shire, the London-listed pharmaceuticals group based in Hampshire,
raised its guidance for 2008 revenues to at least 20 per cent above its
levels a year ago as it delivered a 35 per cent rise in second-quarter
revenue, with product sales rising by 40 per cent to $706 million (£356
million).
ProStrakan, the London-listed drugs maker based in Galashiels, and
Orexo, the Swedish pharmaceuticals group, have extended their licensing
agreement for Abstral, the cancer pain treatment, to North America.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, the US pharmaceuticals group, has offered to buy
the 83.4 per cent of ImClone Systems that it does not already own for $4.33
billion, as it seeks to boost its position as a maker of cancer drugs.
Industrials
Evraz Group, the Russian steelmaker, has signed a joint venture
agreement with China Metallurgical Group Corporation to develop the Cape
Lambert iron ore project in Western Australia.
Solvay, the Belgian chemicals and pharmaceuticals group, reported a
decline in its second-quarter results because of increased energy and raw
materials costs.
Leisure
Whitbread, the leisure group, confirmed that it has agreed to swap 44
of its pub restaurants for 21 Express by Holiday Inn lodges owned by
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). It added that it would be interested in
looking at some of M&B’s Innkeeper’s Lodges but only through acquisition
rather than via further swaps.
Bourne Leisure announced that its Butlins holiday business was reaping
the rewards of the boom in British holidays with a 15 per cent rise in
bookings for the peak July to September period.
William Hill, the bookmaker, reported a 16 per cent decline in
half-year pre-tax profits on the back of a poor telephone betting
performance and the £5 million cost of signing up to Turf TV.
Rank, the embattled bingo and casino operator, said it had stabilised
its first-half revenues although it had experienced “a slight weakening in
performance” recently. It added that based on current trading it was
comfortable with its banking covenants.
VisitBritain announced plans to to cut 136 jobs in the wake of funding
cuts and the devolution of public sector responsibility for tourism to the
regions. The Tourism Alliance described the decision as “extremely
disappointing” and said it would harm tourism promotion in the run-up to the
2012 Olympics.
Media
BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster, said that net new customers rose in
the fourth quarter by a better than expected 92,000, with full-year revenues
up by 9 per cent to £4.95 billion, adding that it was confident of further
growth despite the economic uncertainty. News Corporation, parent company of
The Times, has a 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB.
Trinity Mirror, the newspaper publisher, reported an 8 per cent drop in
its first-half sales as spending on print advertising continued to decline,
prompting it to implement further cost-cutting measures.
Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch educational publisher, said it was on
track to meet its 2008 goals despite “a challenging economic backdrop” after
it reported first-half adjusted operating profits up by 12 per cent at
constant currencies.
Natural
resources
Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil group, announced a rise in
second-quarter profits to nearly $8 billion (£4.02 billion), driven by the
soaring price of oil.
Antofagasta, the London-listed Chilean miner, said it had produced
233,600 tonnes of copper in the first half, 10.2 per cent more than last
time.
D1 Oils, the biofuels group, said it expects to remain cash positive
through to the end of 2009, based on the net funds of £14.9 million raised
through a placing.
Anglo American, the mining group, reported first-half pre-tax profits
nearly 15 per cent higher at $6.4 billion, from $4.9 billion last time. The
base metals division was the biggest contributor to group operating profits,
accounting for 41 per cent.
Retailing
Carphone Warehouse, the mobile phone retailer, has reduced its
expectations for new broadband customers this year after confirming a
slowdown over the first quarter when it added a net 41,000 broadband
customers, taking the total to 2.8 million.
Greggs, the high-street bakery chain, reported a 5.1 per cent rise in
first-half like-for-like sales and said it was confident for the second
half.
Support
services
Mitie Group, the London-listed support services supplier based in
Bristol, said trading has been in line with expectations and added that it
has secured a record 83 per cent of the current year’s budgeted revenue and
the forward order book remains strong.
Jarvis, the rail and construction services group, said trading from the
start of the financial year on April 1 has been broadly in line with
expectations.
Technology
Facebook Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, the Indian brothers who created
Scrabulous, have unveiled a new game called Wordscraper for Facebook — which
bears remarkable similarities to Scrabble. The launch comes less than 48
hours after they agreed to take Scrabulous down from the US version of
Facebook following legal action from Hasbro, the toymaker that owns the
rights to Scrabble in the United States and Canada.
Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer, has cut the prices of its
handsets by up to 10 per cent. But surging sales of cheaper phones in
emerging markets helped it to increase its market share in the second
quarter from 40 to 41 per cent.
Telecoms
BT, the telecoms group, saw its shares fall after it reported a 7 per
cent fall in first-quarter profits to £613 million, from £658 million last
time, Revenues rose by 3 per cent to £5.1 billion. Its shares dropped by 12
per cent, their worst fall in eight years.
Transport
National Express Group, the bus and rail operator, announced a 13.9 per
cent rise in half-year pre-tax profits and said its was confident that its
full-year results would meet expectations. It added that its East Coast
franchise had increased revenues by 11 per cent since National Express took
over the contract last December.
Utilities
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, revealed a first-half group
operating profits of £992 million, 20 per cent lower than the same period
last year, just hours after it unveiled the largest energy price rise in UK
history of up to 44 per cent. It claimed that the rise was necessary because
of rising wholesale energy prices and the need to invest in new sources of
low carbon energy.
