View
video and Need to Know interactive heatmap
Economics
Construction sector: Activity in the construction industry tumbled to
its lowest levels in 12 years last month, the latest CIPS/Markit purchasing
managers’ survey indicated. Its headline index fell to a new low of 29.3 for
last month, from a November reading of 31.8, on a scale where any figure
below 50 indicates contraction.
Consumer confidence: Sentiment among consumers slumped last month to
another low, the latest Nationwide Building Society survey reports today.
Its headline index for December has fallen to 47, from 51 in November and 84
in December 2007.
Germany economic bailout: The German Government has agreed to give
Europe’s biggest economy an extra stimulus of up to €50 billion (£46
billion) in an effort to cushion it against a deepening recession. The new
stimulus package would add to an existing €23 billion package of measures
that was widely criticised as being too cautious.
Oil prices: The cost of oil rose 3 per cent as Israel’s deepening
incursion into Gaza and a dispute between Russia and Ukraine about natural
gas heightened fears of supply disruptions. Benchmark US light crude gained
$1.34 a barrel to $47.68 a barrel after touching a three-week high of
$48.68. Benchmark London Brent rose $1.90 to $48.81 a barrel.
Eurozone inflation: Price pressures fell by more than expected in Italy
and Spain in December, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to keep
cutting interest rates. Spanish inflation fell to a decade-low of 1.5 per
cent, while Italy’s annual inflation rate fell to a 14-month low of 2.3 per
cent.
Banking
& finance
Madoff: Politicians on Capitol Hill debated the future of America’s
financial watchdog as the Securities and Exchange Commission came under
attack for missing the world’s biggest fraud. It emerged that Bernard Madoff
has violated the terms of his bail conditions by posting $1 million worth of
jewellery to family members and friends while under 24-hour house arrest.
HBOS: The 79,000 people in the HBOS pension fund are at risk of not
having their pensions paid in full, the scheme’s leading independent trustee
has warned. Roger Boyes, who is spearheading a campaign to challenge the £33
billion deal with Lloyds TSB in court next week, told The Times that he and
his fellow trustees had no option but to try to block the deal.
Short-selling: The ban on the short-selling of shares that was
introduced to protect Britain’s banks is to be lifted. The Financial
Services Authority will not extend its ban beyond January 16, although the
watchdog plans to force investors to continue to disclose their short
positions until at least June 30.
Saving rates: More than a third of deposit accounts aimed at ordinary
savers now pay returns of 1 per cent or less, after banks and building
societies cut savings rates over the new year period. With the Bank of
England’s Monetary Policy Committee expected to cut official interest rates
by at least 0.5 per cent on Thursday, more dramatic reductions are expected
in the coming weeks.
Hedge fund: The investor who helped John Paulson to make $15 billion
(£10.2 billion) from predicting the US sub-prime mortgage crisis has left
Paulson & Co, the hedge fund manager, to set up his own fund. Paolo
Pellegrini was the right-hand man to Mr Paulson when the founder of what was
then a little-known fund manager, defied the rest of Wall Street and called
the collapse of the US housing market in 2006.
HgCapital: The private equity investor, which focuses on Europe, has
sold Orbiscom, the provider of payment solutions, for approximately $100
million to MasterCard.
Construction
& property
Ennstone: The concrete company has appointed Julian Cooper as executive
chairman, effective immediately, replacing Graham Brown, the interim
chairman. Mr Brown will remain as a non-executive director to ensure a
smooth transition.
Carillion: The building company has sealed a £13 million deal with
Nottingham City Council for one of the first primary schools to be built
under the Government’s £7 billion Primary Capital Programme. The new
Southwark Primary School will be built on the infant and nursery school site
in Bulwell Lane, Old Basford.
Consumer
goods
Waterford Wedgwood: Up to 1,900 UK jobs are at risk after the
250-year-old fine china and glassware maker collapsed into receivership.
This leaves Sir Anthony O’Reilly, the media tycoon and the company’s
non-executive chairman, facing millions of pounds worth of losses. The
collapse of the company will put an extra £50 million strain on the already
heavily loaded pensions industry lifeboat, experts warned.
Tyson Foods: Dick Bond, the chief executive, has said he is leaving the
world’s largest meat company, news which sent the company’s shares lower.
His departure surprised analysts, who said the company appeared well
equipped to withstand the current pressures on the meat industry.
Engineering
US cars: Manufacturers have revealed sharp drops in their 2008 American
sales figures. Only Subaru, of Japan, said that US sales were slightly
higher than in 2007. Toyota said that its December sales in the US were down
37 per cent on the same month in 2007, while full-year sales fell 16 per
cent. Ford said that sales fell 21 per cent in the year.
Porsche: A shake-up of Europe’s truckmakers is in prospect after it
emerged that the German car group is poised to make a legally mandated
takeover offer for Scania, the Swedish truck business. This comes after
Porsche said that it had raised its stake in Volkswagen to 50.76 per cent,
in a long planned affirmation of its control of its German rival.
Health
Lifeline Scientific: The company, which is developing an advanced organ
preservation and transport system, reported an upbeat trading update and
said that the New England Journal of Medicine had published trial data
showing that transplanted kidneys function earlier and last longer when
preserved in its LifePort system compared with the traditional box of ice,
the current standard transportation method.
International Brachytherapy (IBT): The Belgian radiotherapy implant
maker said that Steglitz Medinvest, the German investment company, has
acquired 22.1 per cent of the group’s voting rights. The investment fund
bought the shares from Eckert and Ziegler, IBT’s principal shareholder
Industrials
Yule Catto: The speciality chemicals group has conditionally sold
Oxford Chemicals for £8.25 million in cash to Frutarom, the flavour and
fragrance company. The completion of the sale hinges upon regulatory
approval for the transfer of operational licences. The proceeds of the sale
will be used to reduce the group’s borrowings.
Leisure
The Restaurant Group: The Garfunkels and Frankie & Benny’s operator
has launched a series of new year promotions that will be “longer and
deeper” than previous years after suffering a 4.9 per cent decline in
like-for-like sales in the seven weeks to December 28.
Hoxton Hotel: Sinclair Beecham, the co-founder of Pret A Manger and
owner of the Hoxton Hotel, in the City of London, sparked a rush of bookings
from City workers after giving away 50 free rooms last night. The offer
included a Pret breakfast and a bottle of mineral water.
Marylebone Warwick Balfour: The boutique hotel and property group said
that trading at its Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains had remained firm
during 2008. The occupancy and room rate has been maintained at 79 per cent
and £115 respectively, while food and beverage sales were marginally lower.
Admiral Taverns: The tenanted pub company is to split itself into three
divisions and has appointed industry veteran Peter Brook to run 400
underperforming pubs as part of efforts to improve trading.
Media
New York Times: The paper will sell display advertising on its front
page, its latest step to seek new ways to make money as it deals with the
prolonged downturn in revenue. The first advertisement, which appears at the
bottom of the front page in Monday’s paper, is for CBS, the broadcaster.
Natural
resources
Rio Tinto: The world’s second-largest iron ore miner is restarting its
mines in Western Australia after a two-week closure, designed to cut
production by about 10 per cent because of lower demand from steel mills in
China. Workers on Monday began returning to each of the company’s 11 mines.
Retailing
John Lewis: The high street department store group reported a 2.4 per
cent rise in sales over the Christmas trading period. It reported strong
gains in demand for homeware, electricals and technology while sales in
fashion and beauty also rose over the five weeks to January 3. The figures
contrast sharply with the run up to the Christmas period when John Lewis
reported double-digit falls in trading.
Liberty: The upmarket Regent Street department store said its Christmas
sales were close to record levels as trading surpassed management hopes.
While hit by the general retail squeeze in November, Liberty said December
trading “almost matched last year’s record Christmas” as the company also
cleared stock ahead of a major store overhaul.
Adams: About 850 staff have been made redundant at the failed
childrenswear chain after administrators announced the closure of 111
stores. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed to the firm on New
Year’s Eve, said job losses were “inevitable” but added that it had received
expressions of interest in the business and brand from prospective buyers.
Passion for Perfume: The perfume retailer has joined the list of high
street casualties after it collapsed into administration with the loss of
194 jobs. The company, whose headquarters are in Manchester, appointed
administrator Deloitte after the group was unable to find a buyer. The
company traded online and from 45 stores across the UK at locations
including Aberdeen, Plymouth, Blackpool and Wigan.
Support
Services
Legal partners: Up to 10 to 15 per cent of the 12,000 partners at the
top 100 leading law firms could lose their jobs this year. Senior equity
partners, who earned an average of £1.1 million at the top ten firms last
year, are being told they must accept a reduced share of profits or leave.
Younger partners, promoted during the boom of recent years, are also being
forced out.
Technology
Apple: Steve Jobs, the company’s chief executive, moved to quash
persistent rumours about his ill health, revealing that he was suffering
from a “hormone imbalance” which had caused him to lose weight rapidly.
Speculation about Mr Jobs’s health has damaged Apple’s share price in recent
weeks after the company announced that he would not be making the keynote
speech at the forthcoming Macworld conference.
Autonomy: The technology company has entered a multimillion-dollar
licensing agreement for its archiving software with BAE Systems, the defence
company. The company has more than 17,000 clients worldwide including
Coca-Cola, Ford and GlaxoSmithKline.
Innovation Group: The insurance software and outsourcing group said
Geoff Squire, its chairman, has stepped down and it has appointed David
Thorpe, a non- executive director, as its interim chairman.
Telecoms
Tata Teleservices: The company has agreed to sell a 49 per cent stake
in its telecoms tower division to another Indian tower company, valuing the
business at an enterprise value of 130 billion rupees (£1.82 billion).
Indian mobile operators are increasingly sharing base stations in an effort
to cut costs as they expand across vast rural districts and penetrate
smaller towns, where low-income subscribers dominate.
Transport
All Nippon Airways: Japan’s second-biggest airline will scrap plans to
buy the Airbus A380 as it and Japan Airlines, its bigger rival, cut capital
spending, according to local reports. The global economic downturn has been
hitting airlines as fewer people travel for business or holidays, forcing
carriers to review capital spending and ditch less profitable routes.
Schiphol Group: The Amsterdam airport operator expects a sharp decline
in passenger and cargo traffic this year, mainly as a result of the global
financial crisis, it said. In 2008, 47.4 million passengers travelled
through the airport, 0.8 per cent fewer than the previous year. Cargo
traffic also declined by 1.4 per cent to a total of 1.59 million tonnes.
Utilities
Gazprom: European gas supplies are set to suffer further disruption
after the payment dispute between Russia and Ukraine worsened when Vladimir
Putin ordered further cuts to punish Kiev. Ten countries have so far
reported reduced gas flows from Ukrainian pipelines delivering from Gazprom,
the Russian state company. European Union ambassadors forecast more cuts of
up to 20 per cent at a private meeting yesterday, The Times understands.
Areva: The French nuclear energy group said it had been awarded a
licence to operate the Imouraren mine in Niger which it called the most
important uranium mine in Africa and the second in the world. Areva will
have a 66.65 per cent stake and Niger a 33.35 per cent.
