Tom Frew

Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson and WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell back UK Membership of the European Union UK business leaders have signed a letter warning Prime Minister David Cameron from seeking a whole renegotiation of the country’s membership of the European Union (EU). Supported by Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson, BT Group […]

Analysts expect the UK government to announce the country’s economy contracted by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Research by the National Institute of Economic Research and Social Research (NIESR) indicates that the 1.0% growth seen in the third was artificial leading to contraction at the end of 2012. The figures raise further concern […]

The UK’s Office for National Statistics, ONS, has announced that it will not change the method by which the Retail Price Index, RPI, is calculated. Following a three month consultation the ONS has chosen to not change the RPI to be more in line with the consumer prices index, but said that an additional price […]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted against further quantitative easing and to maintain an interest rate of 0.5%, which has been in place since March 2009. Known officially as the Bank Rate, interest is applicable to commercial bank reserves and has never been lower than 0.5% in the Bank’s 319-year history. Business […]

Car manufacturer Peugeot Citroen (EU:UG) announces a European sales fall of 16.5% 2012. Peugeot Citroen has announced that their European sales are down by 16.5% in 2012, though sales in China were up by 7.2% and 10.1% in Russia. The French based firm saw a worldwide sales fall of 8.8%, down to 2,820,000 units, citing […]

Mining firm Anglo American names replacement for former chief executive Cynthia Carroll. The multinational mining giant and the world’s largest supplier of platinum Anglo American has named Mark Cutifani as their new Chief Executive. Once a trainee-miner Mr Cutifani, 54, resigned from his position as chief executive of the South African firm AngloGold to take […]

President Barack Obama has said that failure by the United States government to reach an agreement on further raising the nation’s debt ceiling would lead to “catastrophic consequences”. The Democratic president faces the challenge of reaching an agreement with Republican majority in the House of Representatives, with the Unites States Senate currently under Democratic control, but […]

The UK’s service sector has contracted for the first time since December 2010. Research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, CIPS, and financial information supplier Markit concludes that the UK’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, PMI, figure fell from 50.2 in November to 48.9 in December in 2012. Any figure under 50.0 signifies negative […]

The Chinese service sector has grown at its fastest rate for four months indicating that the country is set for a period of sustained economic recovery. Newly released results for China’s National Bureau of Statistics shown that non-manufacturing purchasing manager’s index, known as PMI, increased to 56.1 in December from November’s 55.6, with any figure […]

Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has called for the US government to address its budget problems following a temporary agreement over the “fiscal cliff”. Arguing that “Washington’s governance and policymaking had become less stable” Standard and Poor’s cited recent events as demonstrating that current budget governance was “less stable, less effective and less predictable”. The […]