Eurozone service sector’s slowdown puts pressure on ECB to undertake quantitative easing September 3, 2014 The Eurozone’s services firms flagged a further slowdown in the troubled currency bloc’s growth yesterday, with surveys indicating that the region is growing at the slowest pace this year so far, putting pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB). The Eurozone’s composite purchasing managers’ index, collated by Markit, dropped to just 52.5 – the lowest [...]
Ukraine can’t win in this crisis – but Putin can be made to pay for his victory September 3, 2014 IT IS a standard rule of thumb in global risk analysis that the side in a conflict calling for a ceasefire is the side that is losing. Until two weeks ago, President Putin of Russia – seeing his Kremlin-sponsored separatists on the run in the face of a rejuvenated Ukrainian army – was all for [...]
Diamond Dave Lewis surprises Tesco staff with rare appearance at Birmingham conference September 2, 2014 Twitter was abuzz yesterday with hashtags like #inspired and #TheFutureLooksGreat after the new boss of Tesco paid a surprise visit to a leadership conference in Birmingham. Retail newbie Dave Lewis, who has jumped in to save Tesco, made news headlines after he wrote to his 500,000 employees asking them to email him with ideas [...]
London Report: Mining shares lift FTSE despite doubt over ECB September 2, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index steadied near a two-month high yesterday, with some caution before the European Central Bank’s policy meeting tomorrow offsetting a rally in miners prompted by stronger metals prices. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended 0.06 per cent higher at 6,829.17 points after rising up to 6,849.28 points, the highest level since early [...]
Was the Davies Commission right to rule out Boris Island as an option for airport expansion? September 2, 2014 Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick Airport, says Yes. We share the mayor’s passion for London, as well as his desire to maintain its status as the best-connected city in the world. But what is needed above all is certainty that additional airport capacity will be delivered. And while ambitious, the Thames Estuary airport option [...]
Space race take two? Putin speeds up building of Russian spaceport September 2, 2014 Russia has upped its game in the race to become a space superpower. Today, President Vladimir Putin announced that he was hastening Russia's efforts to build a multi-billion dollar spaceport in the East of the country. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has relied on the Baikonur cosmodrome in [...]
Mike Ashley retains House of Fraser stake as Nanjing Xinjiekou sale goes through September 2, 2014 The sale of department store House of Fraser to Chinese conglomerate Nanjing Xinjiekou has gone through today – with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley retaining his 11 per cent stake. The deal values the business at around £480m – probably more than it would have valued at, had chairman Don McCarthy gone through with [...]
Date for the diary: George Osborne reveals when he will make his Autumn Statement September 2, 2014 George Osborne today announced he will deliver his Autumn Statement on December 3. Since Osborne took the helm at the Treasury, the Autumn Statment has slowly crept later in the year. While Gordon Brown, who delivered the first Autumn Statement in 1997, preferred to use his as a sort of summary of the state of [...]
Boris vows to fight on for Thames Estuary airport, calling Heathrow third runway “political kryptonite” and Davies Commission “irrelevant” September 2, 2014 London mayor Boris Johnson will continue fighting for a Thames Estuary airport- despite the idea being ruled out Sir Howard Davies' Airports Commission today– calling the organisation “irrelevant” and a third runway at Heathrow “political kryptonite.” In a statement from City Hall, Johnson said he “cannot conceive of any possible scenario in which a government [...]
Bye-bye Boris Island: Economic disruption and environmental hurdles of Thames Estuary airport too huge and time-consuming September 2, 2014 Plans supported by London mayor Boris Johnson to build a new airport on the Thames estuary have been sunk by the Airports Commission. The so-called “Boris Island” airport has been ruled out by a commission led by former London School of Economics director Sir Howard Davies into options for increasing the air capacity in the [...]