Finance

Morgan Sindall says construction recession not over

British construction group Morgan Sindall said growing demand for office buildings was helping to offset the impact of government spending cuts on its business, although the construction recession was not over yet. “The commercial side is growing, but let’s not over exaggerate – it’s growing a bit but not as quickly as governments are spending […]

FTSE steady as results mixed; rate decision awaited

Britain’s top share index was little changed early on Thursday as strong results from insurers were offset by disappointing numbers from Barclays and Unilever By 0811 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 3.01 points, or 0.1 percent, lower at 5,383.15 after it ended 0.2 percent lower on Wednesday. Investors are waiting for an interest rate decision […]

Romania meets IMF, EU conditions for bailout deal

Romania has met IMF and EU conditions for continuing its €20bn bailout programme, offering some reassurance to investors concerned about the country’s deep and prolonged recession. IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks has said no major policy changes were needed after the latest review of Romania, which has slashed public spending including wages and raised value […]

TalkTalk signs mobile deal with Vodafone

Internet and phone provider TalkTalk signed a deal with Vodafone to launch a mobile service under its own brand, adding mobile voice and data tariffs to its bundle of services to match competitors. TalkTalk, which was spun out of mobile phone retail group Carphone Warehouse in April, said it would offer contract mobile voice and […]

New British bank Metro opens for business

Metro Bank, Britain’s first new High Street retail bank in more than 100 years, has opened for business with high hopes of breaking into a sector shaken up by the global credit crisis. The company’s launch was accompanied with an array of gimmicks to attract maximum publicity, such as the offer of biscuits for customers’ […]

Wolters Kluwer keeps outlook, Q2 in line

Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer has announced a continued recovery of its North American business, while Europe would remain challenging after it reported first-half results in line with forecasts. Earnings before taxes and amortisation (EBITA), excluding exceptional items, rose two percent to €328m ($423.4m) from a year earlier, confirming an earlier update. Profit was driven by […]

BP replaces CEO; posts $17bn Q2 loss on spill

BP Plc has named American Bob Dudley as its next CEO, saying Tony Hayward would stand down after his gaffe-prone handling of the worst oil spill in US history that triggered a $17bn quarterly loss. Dudley, the US executive managing BP’s response to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, will get the top job […]

EU loses in WTO information technology row

A World Trade Organisation panel has ruled that the EU was wrong to impose duties on three types of electronics products from the US and other countries, trade sources have announced. The WTO panel backed the US as well as Japan and Taiwan in their complaint that EU duties on flat-panel displays, multifunction printers and […]

UK economy grew twice as fast as expected in Q2

Britain’s economy grew almost twice as fast as expected in the second quarter of this year, buoyed by a sharp pick-up in services output and the fastest rise in construction output in almost 50 years, according to official data. The Office for National Statistics said GDP jumped 1.1 percent on the quarter, the fastest rise […]

China visible in eurozone bond buys – EU trade chief

China’s presence is visible in Europe through its purchases of bonds as well as large scale investments, the EU’s trade chief reports

RBS confirms $7.6bn orders with Airbus, Boeing

British lender Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed it had placed an order worth over $7.6bn at list prices for 52 Airbus A320 family aircraft and 43 Boeing 737 family aircraft. The order was placed by RBS’s aircraft-leasing unit RBS Aviation Capital. “The 95 aircraft will be delivered between now and 2015 and will be leased […]

French workers agree to GM factory plans

More than 1,000 factory workers in eastern France agreed to a salary freeze and reduction in days owed as part of conditions imposed by General Motors Co (GM) to keep a car plant open. The Detroit-based automaker had originally put the plant up for sale in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis to […]

Gloom starts to lift in eurozone crisis

Gloom over the future of the eurozone is starting to lift after months of crisis, with policy makers sounding increasingly confident that the worst is over

Moody’s downgrades Ireland, outlook stable

Moody’s has downgraded Ireland’s sovereign bond rating by one notch to Aa2, citing weaker growth prospects and the high costs of rebuilding the country’s crisis-hit banking system. The rating agency, which cut Ireland from Aa1, said the outlook was stable. The move, which put Moody’s on par with rival agency Standard and Poor’s AA rating […]

No catastrophes from Europe stress tests expected -Juncker

There should be no “big catastrophes” from stress tests on European banks but the reviews should be tough, the chairman of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, was quoted as saying. “I am not expecting any big catastrophes,” he told Austrian newspaper Kurier. “But there cannot be any glossing over, the tests are based on reality,” […]

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