China will avert crisis despite its slowing growth March 11, 2012 PREMIER Wen Jiabao’s speech to the National People’s Congress has caused a wobble in Chinese equities and reduced the optimism that was building on China. His forecast for 7.5 per cent GDP growth in 2012 is below what some international agencies were expecting. The biggest surprise about Wen’s forecast is that it is also a [...]
Potential pitfalls ahead for the euro March 26, 2012 THOUGH Europe seems to have moved past its calamitous period of bumbling from one disaster to the next, there are still potential pratfalls ahead for the euro. The two biggest obstacles this week are signs of German slowdown and wobbles in the expansion of the Eurozone’s rescue infrastructure – also heavily dependent on the German [...]
Energy stocks lift FTSE March 26, 2012 Energy stocks gave the FTSE 100 index renewed impetus in early trading but gains were limited by weaker miners and banks. Fears over China’s growth are still casting a shadow over commodity stocks while banks are still struggling to maintain upward momentum. Aberdeen Asset Management was the top riser, up 2.4 per cent as the [...]
How an explosive setback put one legal firm on the path to international growth June 5, 2012 TWENTY years ago, you’d have been hard pressed to find anyone prepared to bet that Norton Rose – one of London’s oldest City law firm’s – would eventually rank in the top five largest international practices in the world. Unless perhaps you’d asked Peter Martyr, the firm’s group chief executive. Back in 1992, he was [...]
For London 2012 a marketing firm is both service provider and client May 15, 2012 COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 72 DAYS TO GO Q What was your brand’s primary reason for being involved with the Games? A The task of marketing the London Olympic Games has been described as the biggest assignment in UK marketing history. For a group of agencies to collectively and collaboratively be able [...]
Mitie trading in line as solid order book fuels confidence January 30, 2012 OUTSOURCING and energy specialist Mitie said revenues and earnings had come in line with expectations in a trading update yesterday. The FTSE 250-listed company said its private sector client sales were strong, having sealed recent deals with insurers Friends Life and LV=. In the public sector it said there were still contracts being won despite [...]
Mitie trading in line as solid order book fuels confidence January 30, 2012 OUTSOURCING and energy specialist Mitie said revenues and earnings had come in line with expectations in a trading update yesterday. The FTSE 250-listed company said its private sector client sales were strong, having sealed recent deals with insurers Friends Life and LV=. In the public sector it said there were still contracts being won despite [...]
Miners peg back FTSE as UK inflation dips again March 20, 2012 Miners pegged the FTSE 100 back in early trading as fears that demand from China for metals was falling sapped investor confidence. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, fell 1.9 per cent after saying it was seeing signs of “flattening” iron ore demand from China. The sector is pinning its hopes on continuing fast growth [...]
Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need February 19, 2012 IT MAY be winter and pretty rainy but now is the time to start thinking about this summer’s inevitable water shortages in southeast England. For years, the government’s strategy has been to ration water. Yet in parts of the UK it rains almost every other day all year long. The wet regions are economically deprived; [...]
What was in Osborne’s red box: our quick summary March 22, 2012 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that UK GDP will grow by around 0.8 per cent this year, the same rate as in 2011, up from its earlier forecast of 0.7 per cent. The beneficial effects of falling inflation are expected to be offset by uncertainty over the Eurozone and tighter [...]