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Personal insolvencies rise to new record as unemployment bites

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

More people than ever before were declared insolvent in England and Wales during the third quarter of the year. Figures released by the Insolvency Service yesterday reveal that there were 35,242 personal insolvencies over the three months to the end of September, up by 28 per cent on the same period of 2008, and by 6 per cent on the previous quarter.

Business Diary: A nicer way to describe those bankers

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Many people have their own names for bonus-grabbing bankers – mostly unprintable – but Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (84 per cent owned by the taxpayer) uses a different term. He and his colleagues are now "stewards of public money", he explains. We know that, Stephen – it's the fact that you keep stewarding it into executives' pockets that worries us.

RBS faces another year of losses, Hester admits

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday said bad debts were "bottoming out" but the bank expects to continue losing money into next year.

British Airways nosedives to unprecedented £292m loss

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

British Airways revealed the biggest losses of its 22-year post-privatisation history yesterday, along with predictions that revenues will slump by £1bn over the whole year.

Sharp rise in US unemployment figures

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:26:55 GMT

Unemployment in the US hit 15.7m last month, its highest rate since April 1983, Government data showed yesterday.

Record number of insolvencies

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:56:19 GMT

The number of people declared insolvent in England and Wales hit a new record high during the third quarter of the year, official figures showed today.

£1.5trn could be added to national debt

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:51:01 GMT

The financial crisis is likely to add up to £1.5 trillion to the national debt, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today.

RBS loses nearly half its £60bn toxic debt excess

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:15:21 GMT

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland has already eaten through nearly half the £60 billion "excess" on toxic debts insured by the taxpayer, it emerged today.

1,200 more jobs to go as BA unveils losses

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:34:02 GMT

British Airways is to cut an extra 1,200 jobs, taking the total reduction to 4,900 by next year, it was revealed today.

RBS posts third-quarter losses

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:05:42 GMT

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) posted third-quarter losses of £1.53 billion today despite slim signs of improvement at the beleaguered business.

BA announces record loss

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:55:17 GMT

Business booms as Dr Doom plans company expansion

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The depths of a financial crisis might not seem the most auspicious moment to be setting up a new investment advisory business, even if you are one of the bigger optimists about the economic recovery. How much more surprising, then, that a new entrant into the industry is Nouriel Roubini, the dour New York University economist whose predictions of financial disaster earned him the nickname Dr Doom.

Fury on the streets as axe hovers over German workers

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Thousands of Opel workers staged lightning strikes and angry protests across Germany yesterday after the sudden refusal by the car giant's American parent company, General Motors, to sell off its European operations.

How wheels fell off the General Motors sell-off

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

GM is playing down the spectacular volte-face over the sale of its European business this week as a simple matter of industrial logic. But the now-defunct deal always had more backers in Berlin than in the Detroit boardroom, and the seeds of its collapse were sown in Brussels rather than the US.

PPF funding gap doubles in last year

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The funding deficit faced by Britain's pension bailout fund more than doubled in the last year to £1.23bn.

Bank spends again to try to revive moribund economy

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A stark warning of the continuing weakness of the economy came yesterday as the Bank of England announced a further dramatic expansion in its programme of quantitative easing, injecting money directly into the economy – to reach a total £200bn in the next few months. The Bank said "the prospect is for a slow recovery". The Governor, Mervyn King, said in a letter to the Chancellor that a "number of indicators of spending and confidence, however, suggest that a pickup in economic activity may soon be evident."

Cable & Wireless plans split after unveiling shock profits warning

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Cable & Wireless has resurrected plans to split in two a year after shelving the move because of market turmoil, but also warned on profits as its Caribbean business suffered.

Business Diary: Lord Sugar learns official speak

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Lord Sugar seems to be catching on to this politics lark. Yesterday, a day after an intemperate public rant about the small firms he's supposed to be championing in his new Government post, The Apprentice star issued this statement: "It is unfortunate that my words have been taken out of context". Nick and Margaret have obviously been in touch with some PR advice.

ITV buoyed by predicted rise in ad revenue

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

ITV expects advertising revenues to grow in December for the first time in almost 18 months, but there was no word on its search for a new chairman.

14 charged over alleged insider trading

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:40:01 GMT

Fourteen more people have been charged in the investigation of an alleged insider trading ring centred on hedge fund group Galleon and its founder Raj Rajaratnam.

Post strikes off after deal agreed

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:36:10 GMT

A fresh wave of postal strikes was dramatically called off tonight just hours before the latest walkouts were due to start.

1,700 jobs go as Threshers stores close

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:13:48 GMT

More than 1,700 workers are to lose their jobs after administrators for Threshers parent First Quench today announced the closure of 373 stores.

Bank of England pumps extra £25bn into economy

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:04:30 GMT

Rate-setters elected to pump an extra £25bn into the economy today amid concerns over the UK's faltering recovery.

Bank faces tough decision over further stimulus

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:52:36 GMT

Bank of England policymakers face their toughest decision in months today, when they must decide whether to inject more stimulus into the economy just as new data suggests Britain may be emerging from recession. Analysts are almost evenly split between the central bank topping up its £175bn asset purchase programme by £25bn, £50bn, or calling an outright halt.

New car sales up by nearly a third

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:30:46 GMT

New car sales soared last month as buyers continued to take advantage of the Government's "cash for bangers" car scrappage scheme.