Economics
Services sector: Activity in Britain’s services industry rose at its
fastest rate since September 2007 last month, according to the latest
reading from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, which rose to
55.3 in September, from 54.1 in August.
Money supply: The Bank of England said that it would give more banks
access to its open market operations to help smaller institutions better
manage their liquidity. Previously, only institutions with an average level
of eligible liabilities of at least £500 million could apply to hold a
reserve account with the Bank and participate in its regular tenders.
Eurozone services sector: The sector expanded for the first time in 16
months in September, with the key PMI index increasing to 50.9, from 49.9 in
August.
US economy: The US Government should not consider a new stimulus
package, even with unemployment likely “to penetrate the 10 per cent barrier
and stay there for a while”, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve
chairman, said.
US services sector: The Institute for Supply Management’s index of
non-manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 per cent of the
American economy, rose to 50.9 in September, from 48.4 in August.
Banking
&
finance
Royal Bank of Scotland: The European Commission is trying to force the
bank to sacrifice up to 10 per cent of its small business customers as the
penalty for receiving billions of pounds of state aid.
Credit cards: RBS and its NatWest subsidiary will no longer accept
credit card applications from people who are not already current account
customers. The move — which will be a blow to borrowers looking to switch
their debts to reduce repayments — comes after a similar measure by HSBC
last year and was read by experts as a way of reducing risk. RBS said it
would enable the bank to offer better service to customers.
Financial Services Authority: The City regulator has put itself on a
collision course with banks over tough new rules that will force financial
institutions to set aside a “buffer” in Government bonds.
HSBC: Mike Geoghegan, the bank’s chief executve, said that it is likely
to delay expansion plans because of the economic outlook, warning that the
global economy was in a “W” rather than a “V” recovery.
Admiral: The car insurer is to launch its first American operation
under its Elephant trade name. It will begin trading in Virginia and will
sell insurance to customers via telephone and the internet.
International Monetary Fund: A group of the world’s leading central
bankers, including Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has
taken the unusual step of criticising the IMF for failing to voice warnings
forcefully enough in the run-up to the financial crisis.
US sub-prime market: Three US investment funds have raised the capital
needed to receive government funds that will allow them to begin purchasing
troubled mortgages and mortgage securities from banks, the Treasury
Department said. AllianceBernstein, BlackRock and Wellington Capital
Management had closed deals for $1.94 billion (£1.2 billion) of private
financing.
PricewaterhouseCoopers: The administrator for Lehman Brothers is
drawing up a plan to give $17 billion (£10.6 billion) of the defunct bank’s
assets directly to creditors.
Bank of America: The bank will step up efforts to find a chief
executive to succeed Kenneth Lewis and may identify an emergency leader as
early as this week.
Construction
&
property
Minerva: The property group announced an annual loss of £289 million
after a slump in the value of its assets. Its portfolio, which includes a
number of buildings in Central London, fell in value by 28 per cent. The
group said that it had refinanced three loan facilities over the 12 months
to the end of June. It confirmed that construction was continuing on its
Walbrook and St Botolphs developments.
Ashtenne Industrial Fund: Aviva Investors and Warner Estate, managers
of the commercial property investor, have raised £45 million of equity to
reduce senior debt and refinance the fund’s existing loan facility for a
further four years with Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds.
Industrial relations: Thousands of engineering construction workers
have rejected an offer on pay and conditions aimed at resolving a
long-running dispute at power stations and other sites across the UK, which
sparked a series of walkouts this year. Up to 30,000 workers were balloted
in an attempt to reach a settlement. The Engineering Construction Industry
Association called on unions to ask workers to reconsider the offer.
Commercial property: Signs that banks are beginning to open their doors
to commercial property companies and a rise in demand from foreign investors
for offices in Central London have prompted claims that the next bubble in
values may already be forming.
Consumer
goods
PZ Cussons: The maker of Carex and Imperial Leather said that profits
had risen between June and October. The group, which also trades in Nigeria,
is “cautiously optimistic” for the financial year.
Scotch whisky: Brussels has settled a long-running dispute with Uruguay
over whisky and other spirits after the South American country scrapped tax
measures that had curbed imports.
William Sinclair Holdings: The compost supplier said that trading in
the year to September was in line with expectations, with buoyant customer
demand offset by destocking by retailers.
Engineering
Mazda: The carmaker plans to raise $1 billion (£630 million) to help to
fund new technologies that will improve fuel efficiency and allow it to
develop new hybrid vehicles. Mazda said that it would issue 363 million new
shares and sell an additional 96.8 million shares that it bought last year
from Ford Motor, its American partner.
Rio Tinto: Alcan Engineered & Automotive Solutions, part of Alcan
Engineered Products, a unit of the mining group, has signed an agreement
with Changchun Engley Automobile Parts to create a joint venture in
Changchun in China. Alcan will develop and produce crash management systems.
Chemring: The Fareham-based military specialist will supply the US
Department of Defence with decoy flares for the next five years in a £500
million deal. The flares will be used by the US Army and US Air Force to
protect fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft from the threat of missiles.
Thales: Sir David Pepper, the former head of GCHQ, the Government’s
top-secret listening post, has been appointed as a senior adviser to the
French defence group. He is to become a member of the group’s UK advisory
board and will help it to expand its national security businesses, Thales
said.
Health
AstraZeneca: David Brennan, chief executive of AstraZeneca, called for
a better-funded, more powerful American drugs regulator to speed up the
approval of new treatments and to increase confidence in the industry.
Separately, AstraZeneca announced that it had been granted marketing
authorisation by the European Union for Onglyza, a diabetes treatment that
analysts forecast could add at least $1 billion (£630 million) to the
company’s annual revenues.
Industrials
Continental: An attempt to save a car tyre plant owned by the German
car parts supplier in northern France failed after talks between Continental
and MAG, a Dubai-based investor, broke down. Continental had decided to
close the Clairoix plant, which employed 1,120 workers, in the spring before
MAG approached it.
Leisure
Punch Taverns: The pub group’s debt-reduction programme took a step
forward with an offer to holders of some of its bonds to buy back £100
million worth of securitised notes at or above a price of 80 per cent of the
face value.
Busch Entertainment: Blackstone Group, the American private equity
behemoth, is poised to unveil the acquisition of the US theme park operator
for up to $3 billion (£1.9 billion) but is understood to have ruled out a
merger of the business with its exsting Merlin Entertainments group.
Media
Fininvest: Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, said that he
was “astounded” by a court ruling ordering his Fininvest holding company to
pay €750 million (£690 million) to a rival in a case arising from its
controversial 1990s takeover of Mondadori, Italy’s biggest publishing house.
A Milan administrative court ruled that Fininvest must pay a sum to CIR over
allegations of bribing a judge during the takeover battle.
Condé Nast: The publisher of Vanity Fair and Vogue will close four
magazines after a cost-cutting review.
Natural
resources
Buncefield explosion: A court hearing into the explosion at the
Hertfordshire oil depot in 2005 has been adjourned. The five companies that
were due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court, South London, are Total UK,
Hertfordshire Oil Storage, British Pipeline Agency, TAV Engineering and
Motherwell Control Systems 2003.
Retailing
Tesco: The supermarket said that it had completed a sale-and-leaseback
deal for 15 stores and two distribution centres that will raise £514
million. The deal, which was delivered in a joint venture with a pension
fund, takes the total value released from its property assets to more than
£3 billion since 2006, when Tesco said it would raise £5 billin in asset
disposals.
Next: The fashion retailer has begun selling branded sportswear, such
as adidas and Puma, in its stores for the first time. It has opened a Next
Sport “store within a store” in Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock, Essex.
Customer service: More than 70 per cent of consumers are prepared to
pay more for a product or service in return for better customer service,
despite the economic downturn, according to a survey by Retail Eyes, the
researcher. About 56 per cent of respondents said that they would leave a
shop before completing a purchase if they received poor service.
Support
services
Shanks: The waste management group announced an £8 million deal to
build a renewable energy plant that will be capable of powering 3,000 homes
using food scraps. The group has signed a joint venture with Energen Biogas,
a Scottish-based company, for the development of the facility, based in
Lanarkshire.
Technology
UK IT sector: Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, expects the
IT industry in the UK to thrive over the next four years, triggering a surge
in employment as new high-tech companies spring into existence. He forecast
that 2,500 new companies in the sector will be created by 2013, bringing
with them 78,000 new jobs.
Wolfson Microelectronics: The Scottish designer of microchips for
mobile phones and digital devices warned that it had seen fewer orders for
the final three months of this year than it expected, as it continues to
suffer from economic uncertainty and its failure to supply Apple’s latest
version of the iPhone.
Autonomy: The Cambridge-based software company has entered into an
agreement with Sears, the fourth-largest broadline retailer in the United
States, which will license its Intelligent Data Operating Layer software.
Telecoms
Mobile phones: A report from the Communications Consumer Panel has
called for phone companies to offer “try before you buy” services to
subscribers.
3 UK: The mobile operator has become the first in the UK to allow its
customers to manage their bank accounts online using a mobile handset. The
move comes after 3 UK’s deal with Monetise, the mobile payments company.
Transport
Middle East rail network: Oman plans to invite bids in December for the
construction of a 230km (140-mile) railway, part of a planned Gulf network,
an official said. The United Arab Emirates is planning an $8 billion rail
system and the regional network is expected to cost up to $25 billion.
Utilities
Suez Environnement: The French utility said it planned to take legal
action against a Hungarian municipality that took control of a water utility
company partly owned by Suez.
ERG: The renewable energy company, said it would invest €300 million to
boost wind power capacity and added that it was looking for acquisitions to
support growth.
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