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Economics
Interest rates: The Bank of England ordered a 1.5 percentage point cut
in interest rates that took the official base rate to 3 per cent, its lowest
since 1954 and the biggest cut in rates since 1981.
Stock markets: The FTSE 100 index fell in London by 5.7 per cent to
close at 4,272.4; Germany’s Dax index sank 6.8 per cent; France’s CAC 40
closed down 6.4 per cent. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average
tumbled 4.85 per cent, while the broader S&P 500 fell by more than 5 per
cent.
Eurozone interest rates: The European Central Bank cut eurozone
interest rates to a two-year low of 3.25 per cent.
German manufacturing: Official figures showed German manufacturing fell
by 8 per cent in September, the biggest monthly fall since Germany reunified
in 1990.
Spain’s industrial output: Figures showed that Spanish industrial
output fell for the fifth month in September, the longest period of decline
since 2001, leaving it 8.8 per cent lower over a year.
French economy: The Economy Ministry said that the eurozone’s second
biggest economy would grow next year by between 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per
cent.
Hungarian economy: The International Monetary Fund has granted Hungary
a 17-month emergency loan worth about $15.7 billion (£10.1 billion) to help
it through the global financial crisis.
US productivity: Official figures showed that US productivity grew at
an annual pace of 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, from 3.6 per cent in
the second quarter, as output suffered its steepest quarterly decline since
late 2001.
Developed economies: The International Monetary Fund predicted that the
GDP of the world’s developed economies will drop by 0.3 per cent next year.
Banking
& finance
Man Group: Shares in the hedge fund manager fell after it reported a 24
per cent drop in interim pre-tax profits to $622 million (£392 million).
Fidelity Investments: The world’s biggest mutual fund company plans to
shed 2.9 per cent of its staff this month, followed by more job cuts in
2009.
Blackstone: The US private equity group reported a quarterly pre-tax
loss of $509.3 million, worse than expected.
3i: Britain’s oldest private equity house reported its first losses for
five years with a half-year pre-tax loss of £143 million, after profits of
£515 million last time.
Icesave: Alistair Darling said it will cost the Treasury £800 million
to fund the compensation of 240,000 British depositors with Icesave, the
collapsed Icelandic bank.
Construction
& property
Bovis Homes: The Kent housebuilder said it will have to write down the
value of its land and inventory of houses next month, after a deterioration
in selling prices since August, saying it was experiencing the worst trading
environment for many years.
Consumer
goods
InBev: The Belgian-Brazilian brewing group behind Stella Artois and
Beck’s dismissed growing fears about its ability to fund the $52 billion
(£32.7 billion) takeover of Anheuser-Busch, its US rival, on existing terms.
Tate & Lyle: The sugars group reported first-half adjusted pre-tax
profits, up by 4 per cent to £128 million as revenues climbed by 25 per cent
to £1.7 billion.
Molson Coors: The North American brewer has been unmasked as the holder
of a 5 per cent stake in Foster’s, fuelling speculation that it could use
the holding to launch a bid for the Australian brewer and winemaker.
Engineering
Toyota: The Japanese carmaker reported a 69 per cent fall in quarterly
profits to 139.8 billion yen (£900 million) and cut its full-year forecast.
Tomkins: The London-listed supplier of parts to the US car industry
said that its profits were likely to be towards the bottom end of City
expectations.
Invensys: The London-listed engineer reported a 12 per cent rise in
first-half operating profits to £120 million and said it had strengthened
its financial position.
Polish shipyards: The European Commission said Poland’s loss-making
Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards will be sold and the proceeds used to pay off
creditors and return more than €1 billion (£806 million) of illegal state
aid.
Health
Smith & Nephew: The London-listed medical devices company reported
third-quarter earnings short of analysts’ forecasts and suspended its share
buybacks, sending its stock sharply lower.
Industrials
Accsys Technologies: Shares in Accsys Technologies rose after it agreed
with UCS Forest Products, the Canadian speciality wood products group, to
distribute its leading timber product in Canada and the United States. Its
accoya wood is produced from sustainably grown softwoods and hardwoods to
make a durable product.
Leisure
Bookmakers: Leading bookmakers have been cleared by a High Court judge
of running an illegal cartel by boycotting Turf TV, the live racing service
for betting shops. Mr Justice Morgan ruled that Coral, Ladbrokes, William
Hill and Betfred had not acted illegally in refusing to purchase the
service, also rejecting claims of unlawful collusion by some bookmakers in
withdrawing sponsorship from certain races.
Sportech: The football pools operator reported the first increase in
the number of players since the launch of the National Lottery in 1994
devastated the industry. It also announced the £600,000 acquisition of
4thegame.com, the football community website.
VisitBritain: The tourism organisation said that Tom Wright, its chief
executive, is stepping down after seven years to join the charity formed
from the merger of Age Concern England and Help the Aged. The move comes
after an 18 per cut in funding for VisitBritain and a 40 per cent cut in
staff numbers.
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels: The hotel operator reported a 4 per
cent increase in revenue per available room in the third quarter, although
this had fallen by 3 per cent during October amid the financial turmoil.
Media
BSkyB: The satellite broadcaster has agreed to pay Virgin Media, the
cable operator, £30 million a year to carry its portfolio of cable channels,
including Living and Trouble, as Virgin reported that its customer numbers
had fallen for the second consecutive quarter. News Corporation, parent
company of The Times, has a 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB.
Walt Disney: The US entertainment group reported a 13 per cent drop in
its fourth-quarter profits and said that theme park bookings have “fallen
off considerably” over the past month.
Natural
resources
Central African Mining & Exploration Co: The London- listed mining
group, which is focused on Africa, said its first-half revenues had risen by
90 per cent to $184.5 million (£116.2 million), helped by higher sales of
copper and cobalt.
Randgold Resources: The Africa-focused miner said that lower gold
prices and production had cut its third-quarter sales to $78.3 million, down
by 18 per cent from the previous quarter.
Vedanta Resources: The London-listed mining group which is focused on
India reported a drop of 24.7 per cent in first-half profits to $350
million, from $465 million last time, but said it was well placed to cope
with lower metal prices.
Retailing
Peacocks: The discount fashion chain countered speculation that it was
struggling in the high street slowdown by reporting a 7.3 per cent rise in
like-for-like sales over the past five weeks.
John Lewis: The retail group plans to open a department store in
Dublin, its first outside Britain. The £40 million expansion plan comes as
John Lewis aims to double in size over the next ten years.
Asda: The supermarket chain cut a further 2p off petrol pump prices,
taking its nationwide price for unleaded fuel to 92.9p per litre.
Dunelm: The homewares chainreported sales down by 3.9 per cent on a
like-for-like basis in the 18 weeks to November 1, an improvement on its
trading earlier in the year.
Signet: The parent company of H Samuel and Ernest Jones, the high
street jewellery chains, said sales in its UK and US markets had dived in
recent weeks as consumer confidence had fallen on both sides of the
Atlantic.
Support
Services
Shanks Group: The waste management company reported a rise of 6 per
cent in first-half pre-tax profits to £24.6 million, helped by growth in all
its divisions.
Lovells: The City law firm reported a 15 per cent increase in
first-half revenues to £260 million, up from £225 million last time.
Technology
Micro Focus International: The software group based in Berkshire said
it expected to report better than expected first-half revenues of $135
million (£85.5 million), as its low-cost IT solutions were increasingly
finding favour with cash-strapped companies.
Telecoms
AT&T: The US telecoms group said that it plans to buy Wayport, the
privately held wi-fi service provider, for about $275 million (£173.2
million) to expand areas where customers can access the internet with
wireless gadgets.
Vodafone: The mobile phone group based in Berkshire has taken control
of Vodacom, the South African mobile operator, after raising its stake from
50 per cent to 65 per cent. It acquired the extra 15 per cent stake from
Telkom, the South African telecoms operator, for 22.5 billion rand (£1.4
billion).
Spirent Communications: The telecoms equipment testing group said that
its third-quarter revenues had risen by 9 per cent, from last year, adding
that it expects its full-year earnings performance to be in line with
forecasts.
Tiscali: The Italian telecoms group and internet service provider is to
sell its combined broadband, television and telephone services on the high
street at Currys and PC World stores in a tie-up with DSG International.
T-Mobile UK: The mobile phone operator which is owned by Deutsche
Telekom reported a 6.7 per cent drop in its third-quarter revenues to £800
million.
Transport
EasyJet: The budget airline said that it had carried 3.96 million
passengers in October, up 18 per cent on the same month last year.
Wincanton: The Wiltshire transport group said that it is buying CEL,
the Felixstowe container haulier, for up to £24 million and reported that
its half-year underlying operating profits had risen by 20 per cent to £30.5
million.
Singapore Airlines: The carrier announced a 36 per cent fall in
quarterly profits to S$324 million (£137 million). The airline, which owns
49 per cent of Virgin Atlantic, also said that advance passenger bookings
for the new year were weak.
Utilities
ESBI: The international arm of Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board,
which is 95 per cent owned by the Irish Government, is planning a €4 billion
(£3.2 billion) investment drive to build new power plants in Britain.
