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Economics
Trade deficit: Official figures showed that the goods trade deficit
with the rest of the world widened by £7.2 billion during September, from
£6.1 billion in August, as the Government’s scrappage scheme boosted car
imports by 30 per cent.
The eonomy: Fitch, the ratings agency, said that Britain’s AAA credit
rating was most at risk among the top-rated nations as a result of its
budget deficit. But the country does not face the imminent threat of a
downgrade, because whichever party is voted in at the next general election
is expected to cut debts.
House prices: Official figures showed that house prices rose by 1.2 per
cent in September, from August, their sixth increase in a row, pushing the
average price of a home to £199,303. The annual rate at which house prices
are falling slowed to 4.1 per cent in September, from 5.6 per cent in August
and a peak of 13.6 per cent in March. The figure is the lowest for 13
months.
Unemployment: The latest employment figures, due out today, are
forecast to show that the number of jobless people rose by 65,000 in the
three months to September, taking total unemployment to 2.5 million.
German expectations: The ZEW Centre for European Economic Research said
that its index of German investor and analyst expectations, which aims to
predict developments six months ahead, had dropped to 51.1 in November, from
56 in October. Any figure above 50 indicates activity.
Banking
&
finance
Lehman Brothers: The latest in a series of disputes between hedge funds
scrambling to recover money from the collapsed American finance group has
begun at the High Court in London. Several funds, including GLG Partners,
are arguing over how to divide money that was segregated into client
accounts at Lehman.
Woolwich: The mortgage brand of Barclays said that it was cutting the
cost of its popular base-rate tracker deals and would introduce new deals
for borrowers with a 25 per cent deposit. Woolwich is also raising the
interest rate that it uses to assess affordability to 5.69 per cent, from
5.29 per cent, making it more difficult for borrowers to secure a new deal.
Lloyds Banking Group: The lender, which is 43 per cent-owned by the
taxpayer, said that it planned to shed another 5,000 jobs, taking the total
cuts to about 12,500 since the bank was created by the takeover of HBOS by
Lloyds TSB in January.
HSBC: The banking group said that its third-quarter underlying profits
had been significantly ahead of last year and added that bad debts in its
American consumer finance unit had fallen for the first time since the start
of 2006, in tentative evidence that the credit downturn was starting to
improve.
Pension Protection Fund: The High Court has ruled that the trustees of
underfunded pension schemes cannot actively exploit the Pension Protection
Fund to boost workers’ retirement benefits.
Construction
&
property
Marshalls: The maker of paving slabs and tiles, based in West
Yorkshire, reported trading slightly below expectations so far this year,
with revenue of £277 million, compared with £339 million a year ago.
Morgan Sindall: The London- listed construction and regeneration group
said that it was on track to meet analysts’ expectations.
CRH: The international building supply group, based in Dublin, said
that poor weather and cost cuts would more than halve its full-year pre-tax
profits, which would probably reach €730 million (£650 million) to €760
million, compared with €1.63 billion a year ago. It added that exchange-rate
losses would also weigh on earnings.
Consumer
goods
C&C Group: The quoted maker of Magners cider and Tennent’s lager
has appointed Kenny Neison, the group’s strategy director, to the main
board.
Northern Foods: The food manufacturer reported first-half profits of
£12.9 million, compared with a loss of £17.1 million a year ago, when it was
hit by large restructuring and tax charges. Like-for-like sales rose by 2.9
per cent, driven by growth at its chilled and bakery divisions. Total sales
fell to £466.9 million from £468.6 million, reflecting the mothballing of
its Fenland Foods ready meals facility in Grantham, Lincolnshire, after it
walked away from a contract with Marks & Spencer. The maker of Fox’s
biscuits will also cut 1,000 jobs in the next 18 months, including 220 after
closing one of its biscuit factories.
Imperial Tobacco: Alison Cooper has been confirmed as the tobacco
group’s new chief executive and will take over from Gareth Davis in May next
year. The company reported full-year pre-tax profits of £2.23 billion, a
rise of 39 per cent on a year ago.
Fossil: The American watchmaker reported third-quarter profits of $35.3
million (£21.2 million), from $36.5 million a year ago, better than
expected, and raised its fourth-quarter outlook.
Luella Bartley: The British fashion designer said that her group had
stopped trading, having lost its financial backing from VSQ. It was also hit
by the closure last month of its ready-to-wear producer in Italy, leaving it
unable to fill its orders for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.
Engineering
Renault-Nissan: The vehicle alliance is preparing to launch the world’s
cheapest car in 2012, having signed a deal with Bajaj Auto, the Indian group
best known for its motorcycles and three-wheelers. The companies are
collaborating on the development of a runabout, codenamed the ULC.
Health
GlaxoSmithKline: The London-listed pharmaceuticals group has agreed to
donate 50 million doses of its H1N1 swine flu vaccine to the World Health
Organisation for use in developing countries in the coming months.
Leisure
Barceló Hotels & Resorts: The Spanish hotel operator has
appointed Lambert Smith Hampton, the property consultant, to advise it on
its UK portfolio of 20 hotels, including the Lygon Arms at Broadway, in the
Cotswolds, all of which are leased from Puma Hotels. There is speculation
that it may be seekng to renegotiate the terms of the leases.
InterContinental Hotels Group: The Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza
operator reported a 19 per cent fall in third-quarter operating profits to
$124 million (£74.3 million) and said that while there were signs that
occupancy was stabilising, room rates were “under considerable pressure
across the board”.
888 Holdings: The FTSE 250 online gaming operator reported a 10 per
cent fall in third-quarter operating income to $61 million, slightly ahead
of expectations, and added that it had returned to growth in the fourth
quarter.
All Leisure Group: The cruise operator said that it expected its
full-year results to be “modestly” ahead of forecasts on the back of a wave
of late bookings, partly offset by weaker margins.
D&D London: The former Conran Restaurants is poised to unveil plans
to develop an estimated £50 million hotel with several bars and restaurants
in the City of London.
Media
Yell: The struggling directories publisher appeared to have secured its
finances for the next year after it tapped its investors for £660 million,
an amount much higher than had been expected. The company has been in talks
with its banks since June about restructuring its debt. The negotiations
with its more than 300 lenders had been protracted.
RTL: The Luxembourg-based owner of Five and FremantleMedia, producer of The
X Factor, reported an 8.3 per cent slide in like-for-like revenues to
€3.72 billion (£3.3 billion) from January to September. But it added that
its third-quarter underlying earnings had risen by 22.7 per cent to €92
million.
Natural
resources
Rio Tinto: The Anglo-American mining group said that it was still keen
to work with China’s state-owned Chinalco and added that both companies had
held talks recently. It said that long-term demand for iron ore remained
strong, especially from China, and its operations in the Pilbara region of
Western Australia were running at maximum capacity.
Randgold Resources: The London-listed goldmining group, based in
Jersey, reported third-quarter profits that were lower than expected, partly
because of higher costs at its flagship Loulo project in Mali.
Retailing
Tesco: TNS Worldpanel, the research group, said that the supermarket
chain had taken 30.7 per cent of the grocery market in the 12 weeks to
November 1, compared with 30.6 per cent a year ago. It is the first time
that Tesco has shown growth in market share since the end of 2007.
Support
services
Babcock International: The London-listed support group reported a 30
per cent rise in its half-year pre-tax profits to £66.1 million as growth in
its marine and defence divisions helped to offset a decline in its rail,
engineering and plant units.
Technology
Ericsson: The Swedish telecoms equipment maker is to cut up to 700
jobs, more than 17 per cent of its UK workforce, after pulling out from its
research and development headquarters in Coventry. Ericsson has been in the
city for four years since it acquired the bulk of Marconi, the collapsed
British telecoms equipment maker.
Innovation: Hassan Sadiq, the long-serving chief executive of the
software and services company has resigned. Andy Roberts, the non-executive
chairman, will fill in until a replacement is found. Mr Sadiq had been with
the company, based in Hampshire, since 2001.
Oracle: European and American regulators have clashed over the fate of
the US software group’s $7.4 billion (£4.4 billion) bid to buy Sun
Microsystems, the American computer group, which looks set to be delayed for
months by legal arguments.
Tandberg: More than 90 per cent of shareholders in the Norwegian
video-conferencing company have snubbed an acquisition bid by Cisco Systems,
the US network equipment maker, with many of them expecting a sweetened
offer. Cisco revealed that there was only a 9.37 per cent acceptance and
said that it would be considering whether to withdraw the offer.
Telecoms
Vodafone: The London-listed mobile phone group said that it had doubled
its cost-saving target to £2 billion by 2012 as it continued to report
declining revenue in the first half. It said that the cost reductions would
be predominantly targeted in areas such as technology and procurement, as
well as cutting back on network equipment. The programme, which had focused
mainly on Europe, will be extended to the rest of the company.
Orange: The mobile phone group said that it had sold 30,000 iPhones in
one day to customers who had been waiting to get hold of the handset on its
network.
Transport
BAA: The company said that its seven UK airports had handled a total of
12.3 million passengers in October, a drop of 1.4 per cent on a year ago and
the best performance since June 2008. It added that there had been signs of
improvement in passenger traffic at Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh.
Bmi: The airline has admitted that it may not be able to continue as a
going concern beyond next year because it needs £190 million of additional
funding by the end of next October. Lufthansa, the German carrier that took
control of bmi earlier this year, has pledged £95 million. Bmi, based in
Derby, hopes to make up the rest by selling its lucrative slots at Heathrow.
Pre-tax losses last year were £155.6 million, compared with a profit of
£15.5 million the year before.
Utilities
Terna: The Italian power grid operator surprised the market with the
promise of higher dividend payments after the profitable sale of its
Brazilian assets. On November 3, Terna finalised the sale of a 66 per cent
stake in Terna Participacoes, which is set to boost the group's full-year
net profit.
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