Huddersfield Examiner - Business News - Latest National Business News

Thomson owner capitalises on Thomas Cook woes with bookings surge

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:14:00 GMT

Thomson Holidays owner TUI Travel capitalised on the woes at Thomas Cook today by revealing that summer bookings outpaced the market during January.

BP signals recovery as share dividend up 14%

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:13:00 GMT

BP signalled a further step in its recovery today by hiking its payout for shareholders for the first time since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Massive mining merger creates £57bn dollar firm

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:12:00 GMT

Mining heavyweights Glencore and Xstrata have unveiled a deal to create the world’s fourth largest natural resources firm worth 90 billion US dollars (£57 billion).

Big moves fail to boost market in Tuesday opening

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:11:00 GMT

A heavyweight mining merger and BP’s first dividend hike since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill failed to boost the London market today.

Carpetright suffers fresh profits blow

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:09:00 GMT

The trading woes of the country’s largest floor-covering retailer showed no signs of easing today after it issued a fresh profits warning.

Markets starts on up in results season: Tuesday morning FTSE opening

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:06:00 GMT

London’s FTSE 100 Index recouped some of its recent losses today after a positive start to the corporate results season.

Santander profits fall

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:03:00 GMT

Banking group Santander revealed a 40% drop in UK profits today but hailed its success in increasing support to small and medium sized firms.The group’s UK arm loaned £4.3 billion to SMEs in the year to December 31, which was higher than its £4 billion target in the Project Merlin deal with the Treasury.The improvement followed the opening of five new corporate lending centres, bringing its total to 28, as well as the hiring of an additional 200 SME business advisers and the roll-out of mentoring services.But in the first of the results from the UK banking sector, Santander’s bottom-line profits fell 40% to £993 million after it put aside £538 million to deal with claims from mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).Excluding PPI, underlying profits were down 6% to £1.5 billion as margins were squeezed by the costs of regulation, including the Government’s bank levy, higher lending costs and limited demand for loans.And amid expectations of another difficult year for the UK economy, the business warned that the margin squeeze was likely to intensify in 2012.Chief executive Ana Botin described today’s results as a solid performance in the face of challenging conditions and warned 2012 was likely to be “a tough year for the UK banking industry”.She added: “Economic prospects have deteriorated markedly even in recent months, whilst increased regulatory burdens and funding costs will increase results further.”Santander said net customer lending of £4.2 billion was driven by growth in SME loans and mortgages, suggesting that demand for personal loans had been weak.The lender, which writes about one in six UK mortgages, added that the number of homes it repossessed rose to 10.5% to 965, although this still represented only a tiny fraction of its stock.The group expanded significantly in the UK following the acquisition of Bradford & Bingley, Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National and is in the process of buying 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland.It plans to invest £490 million over the next three years as it invests in IT systems to help it improve customer service and expand.

Greene King revels in festive food sale record

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:05:00 GMT

Greene King toasted record festive food sales today after taking nearly £2 million on Christmas Day meals.

Inflation drops 0.6% in December after High Street price cuts

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:01:00 GMT

A raft of high-street promotions in the run-up to Christmas triggered the largest drop in inflation in nearly three years.

London rallies as Europe rises: Tuesday morning market opening

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:09:00 GMT

The resilience of European markets in the wake of the downgrades by Standard & Poor’s continued today with a 1% rally for London’s FTSE 100 Index.

West Yorkshire Unilever staff in London pension protest

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:11:00 GMT

Workers at consumer goods giant Unilever, including a site at Leeds, will stage a protest outside the firm’s London offices in a worsening dispute over pensions.

M&S and Debenhams see share price boost: Tuesday morning market opening

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:04:00 GMT

Marks & Spencer and Debenhams were big share price winners today after strong December trading boosted sales figures.

Rival probe call after Blacks sale

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:58:00 GMT

Sports Direct said today it was disappointed by the sale of Blacks Leisure to its rival JD Sports Fashion and accused suppliers of obstructing its own pursuit of the outdoor clothing retailer.

Go-ahead for high speed rail route given

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:53:00 GMT

THE Government signalled the go-ahead today for the £32 billion HS2 high-speed rail project that will drastically reduce journey times between major UK cities.

Poor quarter for manufacturing at close of 2011

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:36:00 GMT

THE manufacturing sector suffered its worst quarter for nearly three years despite an "encouraging" performance in December, figures showed today.

BP sues cement firm for spill costs

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:30:00 GMT

Oil giant BP has fired the latest shots in a legal battle over the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, claiming contractor Halliburton should pay all of its billions of pounds of costs.

2012 trading starts strongly on FTSE

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:25:00 GMT

An upbeat start to 2012 saw the FTSE 100 Index climb nearly 2% at one stage as investors caught up with yesterday’s strong European trading.

Bank paid out £160m in compensation to customers in 2011

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:23:00 GMT

Banks paid more than £160 million in compensation to customers last year after a crackdown by the financial regulator.

Thomas Cook offloads hotels stake to try and stay afloat

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:08:00 GMT

Debt-laden Thomas Cook sold a stake in five hotels and a golf club in Spain today as part of its pledge to offload assets worth £200 million.

High street stocks on back foot in challenging conditions

Huddersfield Examiner — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:05:00 GMT

A further snapshot of the dire conditions faced on the UK high street meant a handful of consumer-focused stocks were on the back foot today.