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May 22, 2008
by Kay Murchie
Mothercare, which specialises in products for mums-to-be, has reported a 76% fall in pre-tax profit to $4.5 million.
The fall is primarily due to the cost of bringing the Early Learning Centre chain into the fold, which it acquired in April 2007 for £85 million.
However, the Early Learning Centre acquisition did improve annual sales by nearly 36% ...
May 21, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices shot above $133 per barrel, approaching $134 per barrel at times in after hours trade, on Wednesday after US crude oil inventories declined unexpectedly and distillates stockpiles rose less than had been anticipated.
The US Energy Information Administration said, in its weekly US inventories report, that crude oil stockpiles dropped 5.4 million barrels in the week ...
by Peter Charalambous
The number of people in work reached a record in Sweden as the unemployment rate dropped last month.
According to a survey by SME Direkt, economists had expected a 6.1 percent reading following the 6.3 percent figure from March, although the true figure was 6 percent.
The number of people employed in the country increased 4.58 million from 4.53 million a month earlier, ...
by Peter Charalambous
Spain's economy expanded at the slowest pace in almost 13 years in the first quarter as the global credit squeeze exacerbated the country's housing slump.
The National Statistics Institute revealed today that the Spanish economy grew 0.3 percent from the previous three months which is confirmation of the poor preliminary estimate issued last week.
Following the global credit squeeze, the ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, has expressed his view that the central bank needs to focus on interest-rate policy, in order to fight against the rising threat of inflation amid fears that the government is focusing more on economic growth.
In his statement, he asked the central bank to adjust interest rates in order to bring them closer ...
by Peter Charalambous
As the UK construction industry faces the consequences of a downturn in the economy and the unsteady property market, UK homebuilders will cut tens of thousands of jobs to the tune of around 19 billion pounds.
Home Builders Federation chairman, Stewart Baseley, said that most developers and builder across the country are considering overheads and job losses, as ...
by Peter Charalambous
Moody's Investors Service has cut Pakistan's credit rating for the first time in nine years amid growing fear that the current spate of economic imbalances and political tension caused falling stocks.
Moody's cut the government bond ratings to B2 from B1, which equates to five levels below investment grade.
The country’s financial position has been weakened by fiscal loosening and poor tax collection ...
by Peter Charalambous
The minutes from the Bank of England’s revealed that policymakers voted by 8-1 to keep interest rates unchanged, with only David Blanchflower backing further cuts.
The bank did not want to give the impression of backing output and economic growth over inflationary targets.
The minutes of the meeting on the 7th and 8th of May show that most of the ...
by Peter Charalambous
A monthly business climate survey conducted by the economic research institute, Ifo, has revealed that business confidence within German companies has risen this month, with the index increasing to103.5 points from 102.4 last month.
The president of the institute revealed that the index shows that German companies have assessed their post credit crunch positions more positively, despite the US economic slump and ...
by Elaine Frei
The pound weakened versus the greenback on Wednesday after the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, just released, showed that the vote to hold UK interest rates at their current level was not even close at 8 to 1 as well as on anticipated that a new report will show that retail sales in the ...
by Kay Murchie
The housing slowdown has been having a devastating affect on housebuilders recently with the latest news being job losses for Taylor Wimpey.
The UK's second-largest housebuilder is to close 13 of its 39 offices across the UK which is expected to result in 600 job losses. This represents over 10% of its 4,700 UK workforce.
The offices are expected to be closed ...
by Kay Murchie
Despite costs rising 40% over the last 12 months, Dairy Crest has announced a 24% increase in annual profits from £77.4 million to £96.1 million.
Revenues increased 20% from £1.3 million to £1.5 million.
The maker of Cathedral City, Country Life Spreadable, Utterly Butterly, St Hubert Omega 3, Petits Filous and Frubes, has been hit by rising fuel and other ...
May 20, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices hit yet another new record Tuesday in New York at $129.60 per barrel after the president of OPEC said production quotas will not be raised at least until the group’s next meeting, set for September.
June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was still up $2.02 to $129.07 per barrel at the end of floor trade on the New ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar weakened Tuesday in relation to the euro and other currencies on another surge in oil prices as crude oil reached a new record at $129.31 per barrel in New York and after US producer prices rose in April.
The greenback was trading at $1.5651 to the euro at around 11:15 a.m. in New York, while it took ¥103.7250 ...
by Kay Murchie
Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has posted a 4.3% increase in annual profits to £1 billion - their highest level since its 1997/98 financial year.
However, the retailer said it is cautious about its prospects for the next year and store staff have seen their bonus payout halved this year after missing targets.
Store teams are set to share £12.8 ...
by Kay Murchie
According to a poll of analysts by the Reuters news agency, the price of platinum could increase by 50% this year.
Platinum is used in the jewellery and automotive industries. It is used in catalytic converters to reduce emissions from petrol engines.
Demand for platinum has increased since stricter rules have come into effect with regard to vehicle emissions.
Meanwhile, prices ...
by Peter Charalambous
The unemployment rate in Hong Kong has fallen for the three months from February and has fallen to its lowest level in more than 10 years.
The unemployment rate was at 3.3 percent between February to April which is down from 3.4 compared to the prior 3 months.
The major shifts in this period are as a result of the fact that banks and retailers ...
by Peter Charalambous
Although the housing market in the UK is still struggling, the average house prices are defying the pessimism surrounding the industry as the average house prices are up by 1.2 percent this month.
The average asking price rose to 242,500 pounds in May from 239,521 pounds last month, whilst prices in the capital have increased 0.2 percent.
Prices in six out of ten regions ...
by Peter Charalambous
The US Conference Board said that the leading economic index has risen by 0.1 per cent, and 60 percent of the economic indicators that form the index were from last month.
This follows an increase from March and is a signal that the economic is steadying and is not in a position of serious decline.
Although US economic growth was stalled at 0.6 per ...
May 19, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were volatile in New York on Monday, trading higher most of the day before falling in afternoon trade and then crossing back into gains on a surge right at the end of floor trade.
June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 76 cents at the close to $127.05 per barrel, while at last report Brent crude for July ...
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