News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Investment by business falls

November 24, 2009

BUSINESS investment in Britain fell three per cent between July and September compared with the previous three months, according to official data released yesterday. The Office for National Statistics said investment was 21.7 per cent lower compared with the same period last year at £28.393bn. The third quarter spending drop by companies, for goods ranging [...]
Germany sees output growth

November 24, 2009

A RISE in output helped German manufacturing activity expand for the second month running in November, driving an increase in private sector growth in Europe’s largest economy, a survey showed yesterday. A flash estimate of the Markit composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which surveys the services and manufacturing sectors, showed growth for the fourth month [...]
Supermarkets and food staples have a family feel

November 24, 2009

BrandIndex asks general questions about brands, but sometimes it’s useful to look at more specific qualities. YouGov recently conducted research on the associations between brands and family values. The recent Family Brands report, conducted for advertising agency Isobel, suggests that association with family values is a useful differential by which we can measure different types [...]
The prezzies kids will really want to find under the tree this year

November 23, 2009

THE TOY WORLD has been set alight by a renewed desire for gift-buying after a year of belt-tightening and anxiety. And boy is there demand – John Lewis is doing a roaring trade (up 15 per cent on last year at this time), helped by sales of its toys of which the bestseller is the [...]
Indulge with a basket of gourmet treats

November 23, 2009

IN the season of excess, hampers overflowing with foodie favourites and boozy delights have become central to our idea of seasonal indulgence. And these days they’re better than ever – the organic revolution and revival of interest in quality local food means that the best hampers are bursting with variety and class. Artisan cheeses, mouth-watering [...]
Brown and Cameron clash over recovery

November 23, 2009

GORDON Brown and David Cameron battled for the business vote yesterday as they set out contrasting visions of how to tackle the debt black hole. In rival speeches at the CBI conference, the party leaders accused each other of putting the economy at risk and clashed on when to end fiscal stimulus. The Prime Minister [...]
Four business leaders tell the CBI of their vision for the future

November 23, 2009

SERCOCHRIS HYMAN“To have transformative change in any government we need to see some bravery. We need brave and radical thinking. I see a vast need for services to improve everywhere from education to infrastructure. For too long the delivery of public services has focused on the delivery rather than the user.” PFIZERJEFFREY KINDLER“The political environment [...]
Google needs to start rewarding its customers

November 23, 2009

WHY is Google winning? And what does it tell us about the future?A fortnight ago, Rupert Murdoch told Australian Sky that he would stop Google from indexing all of his content, preventing it from becoming a one-stop aggregator. Murdoch has been saying for a while that he wants to stop his newspapers haemorrhaging cash by [...]
Heritage sells off Ugandan assets to Eni

November 23, 2009

HERITAGE OIL, the exploration group, confirmed plans to sell off its Ugandan interests to Italian rival Eni for $1.5bn (£903.2m) yesterday, leaving it free to pull out of an increasingly unattractive Kurdish tie-up. It will sell its 50 per cent stake in two Ugandan oil fields for $1.35bn cash, with a deferred payment of $150m, [...]
SHOULD INVESTORS WELCOME THE HERITAGE ENI DEAL?

November 23, 2009

PETER HITCHENS PANMURE GORDON “The deal will detract from the short term appeal of the company as this takes away much of the near term exploration upside that shareholders could have benefited from over the next six months. That being said, the management should be aware of this and will seek to divert some of [...]