London leading Britain’s GDP growth comeback April 14, 2014 EVERY region in the UK is growing strongly, with London the driving force, an influential survey published by Lloyds shows today. Sustained growth across the country is driven by rising demand as consumers order more output from businesses. And as a result, the study found firms are hiring more staff which should in turn support [...]
New competition regulator to begin review of banking March 11, 2014 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK's new competition regulator, has announced today that it’s starting a short programme of work into the banking sector, with a decision on whether or not to make a market investigation by the autumn. It’ll publish its work on person current accounts and SME banking in the summer, [...]
Builders shrug off wet February March 4, 2014 THE UK’S rapid construction growth continued despite February’s terrible weather, with firms reporting only a minor slowdown in the recent rapid expansion. The headline score of the most recent purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) was 62.6 for the construction sector. The figure is down from [...]
TSB promises rapid growth to new investors May 27, 2014 NEW HIGH street bank TSB yesterday set out plans to grow by 50 per cent over the coming years, hoping to attract investors with an ambitious expansion plan. Lloyds is selling the 631-branch bank and published its intention to float the lender on the stock market yesterday. The sale comes at a tricky moment as [...]
The green myth: Why renewables destroy jobs March 25, 2014 POLITICIANS and activists are celebrating the news that Siemens is prepared to invest £160m in facilities in and around Hull to produce and install offshore wind turbines. It sounds like good news: 1,000 new jobs. But our embrace of renewable energy will cost jobs overall, not create them. The UK is putting eye-watering amounts of [...]
Scottish independence could impact results says Centrica March 27, 2014 Energy giant Centrica has warned of the consequences of a yes vote in Scotland's independence referendum as well as political interference in the energy market. The company made the comments in its annual financial report for the year to 20 February 2014. In the event that Scotland became independent parts of Centrica's upstream assets would [...]
Yields drop as Greek bond sale pulls in investors April 10, 2014 INVESTORS piled into Greece’s return to global capital markets yesterday, as the state raised €3bn (£2.47bn) through a bond sale that attracted more than €20bn of orders. The successful sale of five-year debt is Greece’s first foray into the bond market since 2010, when the IMF and EU were forced to put together a €110bn [...]
Want to improve education for the world’s poorest? Here’s how April 16, 2014 Private schools in developing countries achieve better learning outcomes than their government counterparts, a new government study has found. The Department for International Development’s report looks at schooling in 27 countries from Afghanistan to Nepal, Sierra Leone to Yemen, taking evidence from numerous smaller studies. It found that teaching is considerably better in private schools, [...]
Balfour Beatty lands £214m contract to extend world’s largest mall March 21, 2014 Infrastructure Balfour Beatty has announced the award of a £214m contract in downtown Dubai for Emaar Properties PJSC. The expansion of the world's largest shopping centre, the Dubai Mall, will involve construction of a new fashion avenue and will allow the mall toincrease its annual capacity to over 100m visitors. Balfour Beatty CEO Andrew McNaughton [...]
British mutuals seize customers from big banks February 26, 2014 THREE major building societies yesterday reported big increases in profits for 2013 as the sector seized customers from the big banks. The Yorkshire Building Society saw pre-tax profits jump to £199.3m, up 26 per cent on the year. It is the second largest mutual behind Nationwide, and its gross lending volumes increased 48 per cent on [...]