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Economics
Construction industry: Activity among construction businesses dropped
to its lowest in more than a decade, the latest CIPS/Markit purchasing
managers’ survey reported. Its headline gauge of construction activity
dropped to 32, from 35 in October, with housebuilding activity particularly
weak.
Jobs market: Demand from employers for both permanent and temporary
staff is falling at the fastest pace in a decade, according to the
Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG, the accounting group.
Consumer confidence: The latest poll of sentiment from the Nationwide
Building Society showed that its gauge of confidence dropped to 50 in
November, from 56 in October.
Mergers and acquisitions: Takeover activity by foreign companies
targeting British firms for acquisition fell in the third quarter, official
figures showed. The value of acquisitions by overseas businesses of UK
groups fell to £2.9 billion, from £19 billion in the second quarter. The
overall value of M&A deals involving UK companies in the third quarter
was half the average quarterly total over the past 22 years.
Public finances: Market worries about the scale of the Government’s
borrowing and the UK’s national debt sent the cost of insuring against
default on British government gilt-edged stock through credit default swaps
to a record high.
Offshore financial centres: The Treasury said that Michael Foot, UK
chairman of Promontory Financial, will lead an independent review of
offshore financial centres, including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man,
announced in the Pre-Budget Report.
Eurozone producer prices: The cost of goods leaving factories in the
15-nation bloc fell by 0.8 per cent during October, cutting the annual rate
of increase to 6.3 per cent, from 4.1 per cent in September, official data
showed.
EU fiscal stimulus: European finance ministers demanded that the
European Commission provide easier and speedier clearance of government aid
to banks hit by the crisis. The Commission promised to produce revised
guidelines in time for discussion at a summit of EU leaders next week.
Spanish unemployment: The number of people out of work in Spain has hit
nearly three million, or 12.8 per cent of the workforce, the highest in the
European Union.
US central bank lending: The Federal Reserve said it would extend the
life of key lending facilities aimed at easing US credit stresses and
stabilising financial markets that were due to be shut down at the end of
January. The Fed said that the programmes would continue until April at
least.
Banking
& finance
UBS: The Swiss Government lifted its stake to 9.3 per cent of the
bank’s share capital in emergency measures to shore up UBS’s financing. UBS
will get SwFr6 billion (£3.3 billion) from the Government in return for the
stake.
Fortis: Shareholders in the Belgian-Dutch financial group rejected a
proposed new chairman during an acrimonious five-hour meeting near Brussels.
Euler Hermes: The credit insurance group owned by AGF-Allianz, the
German insurer, issued a profit warning after the collapse of Woolworths,
the retailer, saying it expected to lose up to €52 million (£44.3 million)
in the fourth quarter. Analysts had been expecting an €18 million profit.
New Star Asset Management: The beleaguered fund manager is trying to
find ways to retain essential staff as part of emergency talks with its
lenders over its £240 million debt burden.
Goldman Sachs: UBS analysts have predicted that the US finance group’s
exposure to volatile stock markets will result in a steep loss for its
fiscal fourth quarter.
Halifax: The Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, said
that Halifax customers on tracker mortgages should benefit from further
interest rate cuts, even though the small print on their loans supposedly
prevents them from doing so.
Construction
& property
Telford Homes: The property developer reported half-year pre-tax losses
of £1.1 million, from £3.5 million a year ago, amid the “toughest trading”
in its history.
Metrovacesa: The Sanahuja family, leading shareholders in Metrovacesa,
Spain’s biggest property company, said they had reached a debt-for-equity
deal with creditor banks, which would take a 54 per cent stake in the group.
Consumer
goods
Heineken: The Dutch brewer has extended its sponsorship of the Heineken
Cup, Europe’s flagship club rugby tournament, by a further four years to
2013. It has sponsored the tournament since 1995.
Gaymer Cider Company: The cider maker said that it had enjoyed its
strongest summer so far, lifting sales by 234 per cent on the back of a £4
million music promotional campaign.
Real Good Food Company: The food ingredients group said that it
expected full-year pre-tax profits of £500,000, from £4 million last time.
It added that it would relocate its London head office operations to its
Liverpool manufacturing site to cut costs.
Character Group: The toy designer reported a 59 per cent fall in
full-year pre-tax profits to £5.1 million and cut its final dividend as it
gave warning of weak retail conditions, adding that its Doctor Who range
continued to do well.
Engineering
General Electric: About 20,000 UK workers at General Electric, the US
conglomerate, have been put on notice of job cuts.
Dewhurst: The maker of electrical components reported a 21 per cent
rise in full-year pre-tax profits to £4.7 million, citing stronger demand
and savings from job cuts.
Datong: The maker of intelligence-gathering equipment, based in Leeds,
reported a half-year pre-tax loss of £1.62 million, from a £24,000 profit
last time, but said it had a strong market position.
US carmakers: The chief executives of America’s three biggest car
companies have offered to cut their annual pay to $1 and sell their company
jets in return for a $25 billion (£16.7 billion) emergency bridging loan
from the Government.
Health
GlaxoSmithKline: Britain’s biggest drugs maker said that its new asthma
treatment, a long-acting beta agonist (LABA) being developed with
Theravance, its US partner, has shown positive results in a mid-stage trial
and is seen as a successor to Advair, its top-selling asthma drug, which
could face US generic competition in 2011.
Industrials
Tata Steel: The Indian group has asked the Dutch Government to support
thousands of jobs at Corus, its Anglo-Dutch subsidiary. The company applied
for help to fund a proposed reduction in working hours under a €6 billion
(£5.1 billion) Dutch scheme to support jobs.
Leisure
Greene King: The brewer and pub operator that sponsors England rugby
said that it was maintaining its interim dividend despite a 15 per cent fall
in half-year profits and a worsening economic climate next year.
Thomas Cook: The tour operator said that it expected the price of
holidays next summer to rise by about 7 per cent on the back of resilient
consumer demand and an 11 per cent cut in UK capacity.
JD Wetherspoon: The discount pub operator said that it was about to
open five new pubs — in Minehead, Bodmin, Doncaster, Oldham and Sutton —
creating 200 jobs and taking the number of jobs that it has created since
August to 1,000.
Folio Hotels: The privately owned company, which has a turnover of
about £70 million, has been forced to call in administrators because of a
sharp decline in trading.
Media
ITE Group: The London-listed exhibition and conference organiser
reported a 2 per cent increase in full-year pre-tax profits to £34.5
million, reflecting growth in its Russian and CIS markets.
Time Out: The New York edition of the weekly magazine is for sale for
between $30 million (£20.1 million) abd $40 million after investors pressed
for a sale in an attempt to generate profit.
Entertainment Rights: The media company that owns Basil Brush and
Postman Pat said that Nick Phillips, chief executive, was leaving the
company.
Financial Times: The business newspaper, owned by Pearson, is offering
buyouts and freezing staff salaries as its advertisers and customers deal
with the financial crisis, according to a memo from John Ridding, chief
executive.
EMI: Two senior dealmakers in Terra Firma's £3.2 billion acquisition of
EMI, the record group, are leaving. Elio Leoni-Sceti, EMI's new chief
executive, is understood to want to bring in his own senior management.
Natural
resources
Vedanta Resources: The India-focused mining group said that it was
planning to spend $250 million (£167.5 million) to buy back up to 10 per
cent of its shares.
Mwana Africa: The London-listed mining group is considering stopping
all diamond exploration in the Democratic Republic of Congo after BHP
Billiton announced plans to withdraw from two exploration agreements.
Gem Diamonds: The diamond producer and the Government of Lesotho have
sold a 478-carat diamond for $18.4 million to a unit of Graff Diamonds, the
British group.
Retailing
Uniqlo: The Japanese clothing chain is believed to be considering
acquisitions in Britain, where it already has a retail foothold, and in the
United States, where asset prices have fallen. The strength of the yen is
expected to accelerate its plans.
Tesco: the supermarket group reported a 2 per cent rise in
like-for-like UK sales over the past three months, its worst performance
since the 1990s.
Game: The computer games retail group reported like-for-like sales
growth of 11.9 per cent in the UK and Ireland for the 44 weeks to November
29, slowing to 1.8 per cent over the past 18 weeks.
JA Magson: The 79-year-old toy and stationery company, based in York,
has gone into administration, with the loss of 200 jobs, after sales were
hit by a slump in demand for toys.
Woolworths: The entire Woolworths retailing empire, including its stake
in 2Entertain, its joint venture with the BBC, is likely to be put into
administration by the end of the week.
Support
Services
Park: The Christmas savings club said its scheme allowing families to
spread their payments had enjoyed a 15 per cent surge in orders and the
number of customers was up by 8 per cent from last year.
Bowie Castlebank: The Glasgow-based group that owns the Klick
Photopoint and Max Spielmann photoprocessing chains, as well as the William
Munro Cleaners company, has gone into administration, with the loss of 817
jobs.
Technology
Yahoo!: Jonathan Miller, the former chief executive of AOL, the
American internet search provider, is talking to investors in an attempt to
put together a bid for Yahoo!, the US internet group, sending Yahoo!’s
shares up by more than 9 per cent.
Telecoms
BT: Twentieth Century Fox has signed an agreement giving BT, the
telecoms group, video-on-demand rights to a range of movie titles for BT
Vision, the digital television service.
Cable & Wireless: The London-listed telecoms group has signed a
five-year £79 million contract with Centrica, the owner of British Gas, to
provide a next generation telecoms network for Centrica’s UK operations.
Alternative Networks: The provider of telecoms services reported a 12
per cent rise in full-year pretax profits to £8.9 million, helped by strong
organic growth.
Transport
British Airways: The flag carrier revealed that it was in talks about a
potential merger with Qantas, its Australian rival, sending its shares up.
BA also confirmed that its separate merger talks with Iberia, the Spanish
airline, were still continuing.
Ryanair: The budget airline said that it wants to meet shareholders of
Aer Lingus after the Irish flag carrier’s board rejected its new €750
million (£638 million) bid. The Irish Government has a 25.1 per cent stake
in the loss-making carrier, which was privatised in 2006.
Utilities
EDF: The French state-controlled utility could be forced to auction
part of its UK power generating capacity to clear the European Union
competition hurdles facing its proposed £12.5 billion takeover of British
Energy, the nuclear operator.
