Business Comment
Hamish McRae: A world that is now divided into the haves and the have-debts
Economic Life: The sorting out that results from the debt load has hardly begun and will be a lasting legacy of this cycle.
Inside Business Comment
David Prosser: BT to reverse the pension charges
Friday, 13 November 2009
Outlook Not a bad day for Ian Livingston, CEO at BT. His elevation to the top job at the telecoms giant in June 2008 was something of a hospital pass: within months he had to issue a shock profits warning after a disastrous performance from BT's Global Services division, and a series of other problems also loomed large. But yesterday's trading update, however, suggests Mr Livingston's hard-nosed approach is beginning to have an impact.
David Prosser: BA can no longer fly solo
Friday, 13 November 2009
Outlook It has been two years in the making, but the British Airways merger with Iberia finally seems to have been cleared for take-off. Thank goodness for that. After a disastrous year, BA is in desperate need of some good news – the £500m of annual cost savings that analysts believe the Iberia deal could deliver certainly fit the bill.
David Prosser: Cricket facing a vicious bouncer
Friday, 13 November 2009
Outlook Leaving aside the politics of today's expected announcement from the Government review of sports broadcasting – though the conspiracy theories are great fun – insisting that the Ashes must return to terrestrial television won't do cricket too many favours. Sky paid getting on for £300m to secure exclusive rights to the series just gone, plus the 2010-11 and 2013 Ashes. No terrestrial broadcaster will pay anything like that for the 2015-16 series, when the new rules are likely to come into force.
David Prosser: Time running out for stamp duty saving
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Outlook The recovery of the UK housing market has never looked sustainable and the latest lending figures suggest it may already be beginning to run out of steam. The number of mortgages for house purchase agreed in September was only marginally higher than in August, The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports, and lower than July's figure. And while we're still up significantly on the same months of last year, the low base makes the comparisons pretty meaningless.
David Prosser: Cameron gets a warning
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Outlook A sign of trouble ahead? Mervyn King has wasted no time firing a shot across the bows of the Conservatives. The Bank of England Governor seems to have been irked by David Cameron's speech to his party conference last month, during which the Tory leader said the quantitative easing programme would have to stop because "in the end, printing money leads to inflation". Mr King warned Mr Cameron off yesterday, insisting the decision was "one for the Bank".
Sean O'Grady: The worst is yet to come
Thursday, 12 November 2009
There are three powerful reasons why the financial pain is far from over. First, the credit crunch is still with us, and still making life difficult for the banks and the rest of us. The uncomfortable truth is that the entire credit system remains reliant on life support from the Treasury and the Bank of England.
David Prosser: Budget pleas set to fall on deaf ears
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Outlook Bless. Within hours of the Treasury announcing yesterday that the Chancellor will deliver the pre-Budget report on 9 December, every special interest group under the sun was publishing its list of demands. There are sure going to be a lot of disappointed folk around come 10 December.
James Moore: The worst is over
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Just as it's possible to talk your way into a recession, you can also talk your way out of a recovery. We might be in danger of doing just that. All right, last month's third-quarter GDP numbers were a nasty shock. But in the past few weeks there have been other numbers which offer some grounds for hope. There are signs of life on the high street. The housing market, if not exactly healthy, is out of its trough.
Karen Hanton: Driving the UK out of recession
Thursday, 12 November 2009
There is no doubt that 2009 has been a hard and worrying year for business owners and, with recent figures showing that GDP has contracted for six consecutive quarters for the first time since reporting began, the outlook might quash even the most ambitious entrepreneurs’ tenacity and enthusiasm.
James Moore: Those ratings agencies can still bite hard
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Outlook In the world of ratings agencies there is a very definite hierarchy. Standard & Poor's sits at the top of the tree, a branch or two above Moody's. Fitch occupies third place and, as a result of this, it has often proved rather more willing to say rather more interesting things than the others. This is probably because it knows they won't have quite the same impact, so there is less risk. That wasn't the case yesterday, however, when Fitch warned that of all the major economies, Britain's prized AAA credit rating was most at risk of a downgrade.
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EDITOR'S CHOICE
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End of the road for Route 66 -
Threat to Sky cricket rights -
Yorke is ready to run a big club -
Consumer groups anger at British Gas -
Cook to keep on disturbing neighbours -
Dein hired to boost 2018 World Cup bid -
The best England Brazil matches -
Richard Eyre on meaning of culture -
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Rolling Stone who gathered no money -
Exams: We will fail him on the beaches -
Parent power: Sara Payne's campaign -
Baltimore Crime Exchange: Your views -
Steve McClaren: Now I fear nothing -
Transatlantic buggy wars: Push-chair safety -
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