Britain’s fossil fuel subsidies: Soon it won’t just be renewables we’re propping up July 31, 2014 THERE is no doubt that fossil fuel subsidies – mostly found in the developing world – are a major and unwelcome feature of the global economy today. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global fossil fuel subsidies cost $544bn in 2012. Add to this lost tax revenues and the figure rises to around $2 [...]
Discovering the entrepreneurial spirit behind Argentine wine November 24, 2013 Laura Ivill travels to Mendoza in Argentina to experience the wine-making journey from humble grape to fine-dining staple DRAW a line on the map from the bustling streets of Buenos Aires west across Argentina’s interior and you reach the soaring 6,000-metre peaks of the Andes. In the foothills, the low-rise sprawling city of Mendoza lends [...]
Bank’s big decision on new targets will shape the economy August 4, 2013 ON WEDNESDAY, the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report will be released, alongside an assessment of the advantages and pitfalls of new unconventional tools for monetary policy. Chancellor George Osborne will then confirm whether the suggestions of the Bank are suited to the remit of the monetary policy committee (MPC). Many expect Mark Carney, the [...]
Flood defence contract delayed after West Coast Mainline fiasco February 18, 2013 THE ENVIRONMENT Agency is to relaunch the competition for a major contract to build flood defences after the process was delayed by the West Coast Mainline fiasco. The procurement process was delayed after last year’s decision to award control of one of the country’s main railway routes to FirstGroup. Existing operator Virgin Rail successfully challenged [...]
King of the supermarket: The long-serving boss of Sainsbury’s talks shop September 1, 2013 Justin King speaks to Elizabeth Fournier as he nears 10 years at the top of the UK’s third-biggest retailer IT’S not been an easy 2013 for Britain’s supermarkets. From January’s discovery of horsemeat in the UK food chain to the disastrous collapse of a Bangladeshi clothing factory in April, retail bosses have been forced to [...]
Payout cut sees £680m wiped off RSA’s stock February 21, 2013 MORE THAN £680m was wiped off RSA’s market capitalisation yesterday as investors took flight following the company’s decision to slash its dividend by a third. Chief executive Simon Lee told City A.M. that the unexpected decision to cut investor payouts – which forced its share price down 14 per cent – was never going to [...]
Letters to the editor February 5, 2013 Bank ringfencing [Re: Ringfencing is the wrong solution to the wrong problem, yesterday] It’s right to point out that Northern Rock, HBOS, and Bradford and Bingley were largely retail banks. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem to solve. Retail banks have been relying on a flood of cheap money from the Bank of [...]
Great rotation may be just a bullish January February 3, 2013 WALL Street’s current jubilant narrative is that a rush into stocks by small investors has sparked a “great rotation” out of bonds and into equities that will power the bull market to new heights. That sounds good, but there is a snag: The evidence for this is a few weeks of bullish fund flows that [...]
Insurers can weather disasters December 18, 2012 THE losses to insurers from Hurricane Sandy are substantial, although not in the league of last year’s natural catastrophes with their appalling toll of human misery in New Zealand and Japan, floods in Thailand and Hurricane Irene in the US, all of which made 2011 the year with highest catastrophe-related economic losses in history, according [...]
Insurers win as disaster claims halve in 2012 December 19, 2012 THE INSURANCE industry celebrated yesterday after Swiss Re said the total bill for natural catastrophe payouts in 2012 will be around $65bn (£40bn), down from last year’s near-record $120bn. Most of the total can be ascribed to the roughly $25bn cost of superstorm Sandy, which swept across the Caribbean and United States in late October. [...]