By Susan in Economy on February 28 2010
Retail sales suffered in the period after Christmas, with sales being 1.8% lower in the period between December and January. This is one of the biggest drops in the past year and a half.
It is thought that the sharp decline was due to the severe winter weather and snow that caused national disruptions throughout the UK. Despite the fall in sales numbers, the actual sales by value was up by 0.9% from the previous year.
According toan economic specialist there is now a risk of a double-dip in the UK economy, meaning that it comes out of recession then deteriorates again straight afterwards.
By Matthew in Uncategorized on February 26 2010
Last year saw a greater number of resignations by company managers than in the same period a year before. In the 12 months leading up to January 2010 a survey by The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) discovered that 225,600 (4.7%) quit their jobs, compared to 4.5% in the 12 months prior to this.
This comes despite the economic downturn over the last year that has affected countries worldwide. A salary survey by CMI showed that managers with the job role of team leaders earned an average salary of £43,119 a year, while junior managers got £21,876.
By Sophia in Uncategorized on February 23 2010
After it was cancelled at the last minute due to being illegally voted upon, the previous BA strike had little impact. The strike was originally set to take place during the Christmas break of 2009. However, BA bosses have once again got their hands full as the cabin crew have once again vote for a strike, this time it seems technicalities won’t prevent it going ahead.
Unite, the union representing the workers at British Airways, has said it will not select dates yet as it hopes the fact the vote was passed by a majority will persuade negotiations to restart. The strikes came into affect due to cost-cutting measures put into place by the struggling airline company. Cabin crew numbers were reduced and a pay freeze has been initialised for the next two years.
By Sophia in Employment on February 15 2010
The United Kingdom officially left behind recession status at the end of 2009 after finally managing to gain some positive growth (0.1%). Despite this turn for the better though, employment levels are still rising with a third of public sectors planning to cut jobs in the short term.
It is thought that of all the public sectors, defence will be amongst the worst hit, following news of funding and budget shortages over that area.
The private sector is showing more promise, even displaying prospected rises in the number of employed, however there are growing fears that companies will begin to outsource more work to save money.
At the moment there are 2.46 million unemployed throughout the UK, with some saying this number may rise when the latest figures are released this Wednesday, 17th February.
By Sophia in Economy on February 5 2010
British Airways has reported a pre-tax loss of £50 million during the third financial quarter of 2009/10 according to BBC news. The loss recorded by BA from October 2009 to December 2009 was actually lower than expected.
Despite announcing that the company beat analysts expectation of up to £151m in losses, British Airways has said it will still be cutting 1,200 jobs as they announced back in November 2009. This is due to the business making a loss of £342 million in the first three quarters of 2009, up from a loss of £80 million in the same period a year earlier.
By Susan in Uncategorized on January 31 2010
Online retail website, Amazon, has posted profits for the fourth quarter of 2009, which were up by as much as 71% during the Christmas period.
Amazon is thought to have achieved the high profits after offering an enhanced free delivery service over the holidays, as well as actively competing in a wide array of different retail sectors.
The worldwide online retailer’s profits rose from $225 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 to $384 million in the same period of last year (2009).
Amazon has stated that they expect to continue their positive trend throughout 2010 after they gained market share over their closest competitors.
By Sophia in Uncategorized on January 29 2010
Toyota has stated it will be recalling as many as 1.8 million Toyota cars after a recurring issue with the accelerator pedal in a number of the models.
Amongst the cars being recalled are the popular Toyota Yaris and Corolla models, which may all potentially be affected by the pedal problem. Models dating back to as far as 2005 may have problems with their acceleration pedal.
Tadashi Arashima, the chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe said, “We understand that the current situation is creating concerns and we deeply regret it”.
The Toyota Lexus model is not susceptible to the issue with the pedal according to a spokesperson from Toyota.
By Matthew in Economy on January 27 2010
Well, it’s finally official; the UK has left behind recession status, but barely scrapes a positive economy growth to do so. The UK economy managed a measly 0.1% growth in the last quarter of 2009, which was lower than what many analysts were predicting.
Despite the somewhat meagre increase, it was a positive positive change nonetheless, so it means that technically the UK economy is on the way to recovery. Although the terminology is an improvement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling warned that he would ‘remain cautious’.
He also added: “Let’s be clear - this is about as weak growth as you can get.”
By Susan in Uncategorized on January 19 2010
Cadbury has approved a takeover bid by the Kraft, in a deal which a spokesperson from the US food giant claims will form a “global confectionery leader”.
Cadbury, based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, has been in talks over a possible takeover for a few months now and the board finally agreed to the Kraft offer. The board at Cadbury is recommending to the shareholders that they accept Kraft’s deal that gives 840 pence per share. This gives Cadbury a total value of £11.5 billion.
Despite the positive outlook in the takeover bid, unions showed concern as the deal made no mention of job security and even suggested cost cutting measures were likely to take place.
By Sophia in Economy on January 11 2010
The Bank of England (BoE) has left the United Kingdom’s interest rates at half a percent for the tenth month in a row.
Following the latest Bank of England meeting, a decision was made to keep interest rates in the UK at half a percent, a record low that has been held since March 2009.
The rates are being held at their current level until the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) can determine the outcome of the next inflation report, which is due in February. It is expected that the UK came out of the recession in the end of 2009, but until the results of the report are revealed, the MPC doesn’t want to take any chances.
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