Author Archive: Jeremy Parkinson
After the Great Recession, the Great Regression?
Wages, pensions, unemployment insurance, welfare benefits and collective bargaining are under attack in many areas as governments struggle to reduce debts swollen partly by the cost of rescuing banks during the global financial crisis. The EU, which long trumpeted a European social model with a generous welfare state, social partnership between unions and employers and […]
Xstrata year profit up 86%, outlook positive
Miner Xstrata reported a better-than-expected 86 percent jump in annual profit on stronger commodity prices and gave a positive outlook for 2011. The Anglo-Swiss miner said it was still assessing the impact on this year’s results from the recent flooding and cyclones in Queensland – where it has coal, copper and zinc operations – after […]
McBride warns of second wave of material cost rises
A second wave of commodity price increases and a deteriorating British grocery market will hit profits at cleaning products maker McBride, it said on February 7, sending its shares to a 24-week low. McBride, Europe’s biggest maker of own-brand household cleaning products for retailers, said a surge in the price of plastics and vegetable oils […]
Obama tries to woo business, slams ‘burdensome’ tax
President Barack Obama stepped up efforts to woo the US business community on February 7, seeking its help to tackle “burdensome” corporate taxes in a speech to a business group that has long been a fierce critic. Obama, on a drive to win over business and independent voters before the 2012 presidential election, also repeated […]
Rein: EU should follow Germany’s lead on reforms
European countries must implement the structural reforms that Germany has already carried out over the last couple of decades to ramp up competitiveness, the European Union’s top economic official said recently. Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Germany’s economy entered the crisis on a stronger footing than others within the EU because it […]
Egypt has limited war chest to avert financial crisis
Egypt has substantial reserves to avoid an external payments crisis but these could be seriously depleted within weeks if political protests continue, while its banks may struggle to cope with a rush of withdrawals. In the days after the protests erupted, Egyptians and foreign investors transferred hundreds of millions of dollars out of Egypt, currency […]
M&A is back as CEOs start to put cash to work
Dealmaking is back on the agenda as CEOs step up the hunt for ways to put a multitrillion-dollar cash pile to work, triggering the busiest January for M&A in 11 years. There is still plenty to worry about at this year’s meeting of the global elite in Davos, from fiscal deficits in the developed world […]
UK inflation leaps to eight month high, pressure on BoE
A record monthly jump in prices drove British inflation to an eight-month high in December, piling pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates and show it is not letting inflation get out of control. The Office for National Statistics said the annual rate of consumer price inflation rose to 3.7 percent from […]
Henderson bags Gartmore, makes $122bn funds firm
Anglo-Australian funds house Henderson is buying troubled British rival Gartmore, to create one of Britain’s largest retail asset managers with £78bn ($122bn) under management. “By bringing across fund managers and integrating the (Gartmore) business onto our own platform we will be able to enhance margins significantly,” Henderson chief executive Andrew Formica said. “Its recent travails […]
Renault spy case shows rising economic conflict
From what France calls “economic warfare” as it probes a Chinese link to industrial espionage at Renault to currency confrontation and commodity rivalry, economic conflict is increasingly impacting businesses. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office has asked French intelligence to probe suspected industrial espionage at the car giant. Renault suspended three executives at the start of January […]
