Economics
GDP data due out on Friday are tipped to show that GDP rose by 0.1 per
cent in the second quarter, after a downwardly revised rise of 0.3 per cent
in the previous quarter. This would take the annual rate of growth to 1.6
per cent, down from 2.3 per cent.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee minutes, to be published on
Wednesday, are expected to show that committee members this month discussed
raising interest rates before their eventual vote to leave them unaltered at
5 per cent.
Official retail sales data due out on Thursday are tipped to show that
retail sales fell by 2 per cent in June, after a 3.5 per cent rise in May,
taking the annual rate of growth to 5 per cent, from 8.1 per cent in May.
Eurozone manufacturing and services activity is expected to have slowed
again in July. The purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing, due out on
Thursday, is tipped to have fallen to 48.6, from 49.2 in June, while
services PMI is expected to be 48.6, down from 49.1.
German business expectations are tipped to have dropped further in
July. The IFO business climate figures, due on Thursday, are forecast to
show that the index for business expectations fell to 93, from 94.7 in June.
The overall index is expected to be 100, down from 101.3.
US durable goods orders data due out on Friday are forecast to show
that US durable goods orders fell by 0.2 per cent in June, after staying
steady in May. Orders excluding cars are expected to remain static, after a
0.9 per cent fall in May.
US home sales are tipped to have fallen again in June. Existing home
sales data, due on Thursday, are expected to show that existing home sales
fell to 4.95 million, from 4.99 million in May. Data on new home sales, due
on Friday, are tipped to show transactions down from 512,000 to 505,000.
US house prices are expected to have continued falling in May. The
OFHEO house price index, due out tomorrow, is tipped to show a 1 per cent
fall, after a 0.8 per cent decline in April.
Japanese inflation is expected to have risen in July. Figures due out
on Friday are tipped to show that inflation rose to 1.8 per cent, from 1.3
per cent in June, while core inflation is expected to be 1.9 per cent, up
from 1.5 per cent.
Banking
& finance
First London Securities, the finance group, said it had completed
acquisition of Belgravia Financial Services by paying Belgravia shareholders
46 million shares at 65p, a 34.16 per cent stake in company.
HBOS shares face a test. Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort, lead
underwriters of the £4 billion rights issue by the HBOS banking group, have
two days to try to off-load as much as £3.6 billion of unwanted HBOS shares
in a test of sentiment towards the embattled banking sector. Scotland,
Lloyds TSB and management and plans to make 20 acquisitions by the end of
the year. (The Sunday Telegraph)
Towergate Partnership, the independent insurance broker, has launched a
financial advisory business to buy up regional independent financial
advisers. It has raised £108 milliom through debt and equity from Royal Bank
of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and management and plans to make 20 acquisitions by
the end of the year. (The Sunday Telegraph)
The Federation of Small Businesses said big companies were delaying
payment to smaller suppliers by more than 100 days in the biggest squeeze on
small firms’ cashflows since the early 1990s.
The US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, has sought to ease fears
about America’s banking system, and stock market regulators are to introduce
new rules today on short-selling of shares.
Construction
& property
Rightmove, the property website that publishes a monthly survey of the
homes it lists for sale, has recorded the first annual fall in prices since
the survey began six years ago.
HIP Facilities Group, the biggest provider of home information packs
(Hips), has ceased trading because of what it called grim market prospects.
The group and its HIP Payment Services said they would not accept new
business from August 31. HIP Payment said that it would service needs of
customers, agents and Hip providers on any matters relating to existing
loans until each case was concluded. The group was a leading provider of
“deferred payment” Hips, whereby homesellers pay when the property is sold.
Topland, the London-based £4 billion property investment group, has
approached Dawnay, Day and its lender Norwich Union seeking talks on the
beleaguered conglomerate’s British property assets. (The Sunday Telegraph)
Taylor Wimpey’s huge pensions liability is deterring potential buyers
of the troubled housebuilder. Any takeover would require an injection of up
to £1.2 billion. The extent of the possible payout, outlined in the
company’s accounts, combined with its £1.7 billion debt, has deterred any
bid for the company, which is valued at only £477 million. (The
Observer)
Consumer
goods
Tate & Lyle Iain Ferguson, chief executive of Tate & Lyle, the
sugar refining group, has hit out at hedge funds and other commodity
speculators, calling for them to face greater regulation in an attempt to
hold back soaring food prices. ( The Sunday Telegraph)
Findus Permira, the owner of Birds Eye, the frozen food group, has made
a tentative approach to buy Findus, one of its biggest European rivals, in a
move that would give it greater power in the battle against soaring
commodity prices. ( The Sunday Telegraph)
Engineering
Rolls-Royce’s investors are likely to question the aero-engine maker
about the impact on its business of high oil prices and global economic
problems when it reports half-year results on Thursday.
ThyssenKrupp, the German engineering conglomerate, said that it had won
an order to supply 669 escalators and lifts to projects in the Chinese
cities of Shenzen, Wuhan and Xiamen.
BAE Systems has been awarded two contracts worth a total of about £150
million for 813 of its South African RG-series mine-protected vehicles. The
larger contract, awarded by the US Marine Corps through General Dynamics
Canada, is for 773 RG31s. The other order is for 40 of the larger RG33s for
US special forces.
Health
GlaxoSmithKline Andrew Witty will present his first set of results on
Wednesday after succeeding Jean-Pierre Garnier as chief executive of
GlaxoSmithKline in May.
Industrials
Energy Developments, of Australia, has hired RBC Capital Markets to
auction its £200 million UK landfill gas business. The company has 60MW of
landfill gas generation in Britain, plus another 60MW in France and Greece. (The
Sunday Times)
Leisure
Domino’s, the pizza delivery company, will reveal today whether
it has managed to maintain its impressive sales growth this year.
Like-for-like sales growth rose to 13.3 per cent during the 16 weeks to
April 20, up from 11 per cent in the first six weeks and contrasting sharply
with gloomy figures from other operators.
Travelodge, the budget hotel chain, will today announce a new £150
million investment in British seaside towns. It is hoping to win more
business from British holidaymakers staying in the UK by building 55 hotels
in coastal towns by 2015, creating 1,000 jobs.
William Hill, the bookmaker, has begun searching for a new online
supremo to take charge of its internet operations. It will relaunch its
internet service in November after losing ground to Ladbrokes and Coral, its
rivals. About 20 per cent of the group’s revenue is derived from the internet,
but it hopes to increase this to about 30 per cent after the relaunch. ( The
Sunday Times)
David Lloyd Leisure will today table a proposal to merge with Esporta,
the rival health club group. The proposal will largely avoid the need to
raise significant levels of debt to finance a deal. The troubled Esporta
group is being auctioned by Greenhill, the boutique investment bank. (The
Sunday Telegraph)
Media
Reed Elsevier McGraw Hill, the US publishing group, and Bain and TPG,
the private equity groups, are among two dozen companies that have expressed
interest in acquiring Reed Elsevier’s £1.25 billion trade magazine division.
Reed wants to pull out of advertising-dependent media and is offering to
lend about £160 million to the successful bidder. ( The Sunday
Telegraph)
Natural
resources
BG Group, the natural gas producer, is expected to report strong
second-quarter earnings on Thursday, benefiting from the global surge in oil
and gas prices and robust growth in its liquefied natural gas business.
Analysts are forecasting that its net profit before disposals and one-off
items will rise to £787 million, compared with £409 million last time.
BP, the oil and gas group, has blocked a $1.8 billion (£901 million)
dividend payment due to be paid from TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, in
an attempt to regain the advantage in its fight with its billionaire
partners. ( The Sunday Telegraph)
Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil group, has agreed to sell its
stake in the £2.5 billion London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind
farm, to E.ON and Dong Energy, its former partners. The utilities have
agreed to divide Shell’s one-third stake evenly between them. E.ON and Dong
will each now own 50 per cent of the company. ( The Sunday Times)
Retailing
Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, is to give a trading update on
Thursday, with investors keen to hear how the company’s DIY stores are
holding up in the face of tighter consumer spending and a slowdown in the
property market.
Support
services
Four Seasons Royal Bank of Scotland has stepped in to lead the rescue
of Four Seasons, the debt-laden nursing home chain, after the group’s owner,
the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), abandoned salvage plans. QIA had hired
Credit Suisse to negotiate a financial restructuring at the £1.3 billion
business, but has been unable to agree terms with the debtholders. ( The
Sunday Times)
Technology
Touchstone Group, the AIM-quoted provider of business software and
consultancy services, has said that its full-year results, due out on
Wednesday, will fall short of market expectations. Pretax profits are
expected to be about £2.1 million, down from £2.81 million last time.
Telecoms
Vodafone A slowing British economy is expected to have affected the
first-quarter results of Vodafone, the mobile phone group based in
Berkshire, which gives a trading update tomorrow.
Ghana Telecom Opposition members of Ghana’s parliament have blocked the
Government’s attempt to approve Vodafone's controversial £450 million
purchase of a 70 per cent stake in Ghana Telecom, the state-owned group. ( The
Sunday Telegraph)
Transport
Container traffic growth in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China’s biggest
ports, slowed markedly in June as weakening demand took its toll of
trans-Pacific trade. Traffic at Shenzhen, the world’s fourth-largest port,
fell in June by 0.6 per cent from May and grew only 3.5 per cent against the
same month last year.
Utilities
A2A, the Italian utility, will take a cluster of hydroelectric plants
and a thermoelectric plant in a swap for its 20 per cent stake in Endesa
Italia, along with E.ON, of Germany. The deal gives E.ON, the world’s
largest utility group, full control of Endesa Italia.
