The announcement made before the weekend that that 121,000 Royal Mail staff had voted overwhelmingly for national strikes over jobs, pay and working conditions had UK business owners and managers in a sweat. Companies fear that national action, on top of the regional strikes that have been taking place over the past three months, will cause widespread disruption to postal deliveries and hinder their long awaited and much needed economic Christmas rush. The Communication Workers Union announced that their members had backed nationwide walkouts by a three to one ratio in protest at the “imposition” of changes to working practices as well as cuts in pay and job losses. Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Postal Workers Union, said that representatives of the union were due to meet on Monday to agree its next step and would give the Royal Mail a “final opportunity” to resolve the dispute over the next week or so.

According to Britain’s business secretary, Lord Mandelson Britain is unlikely to accept Magna International’s plan for the takeover of Vauxhall/Opel unless certain “shortcomings” are addressed. In explaining Britain’s role in “signing off” on the deal, Lord Mandelson stated that an impact plan should be agreed even before talks on how much Britain will contribute to the ($3.1 billion ) €4.5 billion) of loan guarantees needed to restructure Opel can begin. While Germany is due to supply most of the loan guarantees, the British government is being called upon to supply €400 million in guarantees. In return Mandelson expects assurances on the fate of Vauxhall’s two UK plants, in Luton and Ellesmere Port, which employ about 5,000 workers between them, before giving the green light.

According to a report from a leading UK global ratings agency, The recent gains in house prices are likely to prove only a temporary respite before a further steep fall next year, The agency has forecast that they expect UK property prices to fall by about 30 per cent in total from their October 2007 peak, despite the fact that property prices have improved for the last three months leading to hopes of a sustained recovery. However prices still remain 13 per cent below their peak in 2007.

Carphone Warehouse, whilst raising their target for the number of residential broadband customers it hopes to capture in 2009/2010 have taken the opportunity to disclose that the number of subscribers that they had hoped to take on board during their recent acquisition of Tiscali UK, were considerably less than the figures quoted. No fewer than 160,000 than the 1.45 million that Tiscali boasted before the acquisition. On the discovery, Carphone Warehouse has announced that they will be renegotiating the £236 million price it agreed to pay for Tiscali UK.

JJB Sports have announced that they are planning to instigate a share placing and open offer that they hope will rise close to £100 million, more than the total market value of the sporting goods retailer. Shares in JJB, who narrowly avoided administration in April, are likely to be priced below 25 pence, a significant discount to Thursday’s close of 34½ pence. On the news, shares fell sharply on Friday’s trading, down 6.5 per cent to 32¼ pence. On the upside, demand for the new shares has been so high that the company expects to rise significantly more than its current market capitalisation of £86.5 million with analysts predicting that it could even reach more than double that amount. .

On the FTSE 100 Friday, Unilever was among the risers on Friday up 2.7 percent to 1816 pence after industry data showed sales of product lines such as ice-cream and deodorant has been very buoyant since July. Confectionary giant Cadbury fared worse on announcement that their sales had fallen sharply below company targets since July, despite that fact that that the company has increased the number of promotions running after they fell into an unwelcome spotlight after last month’s bid from Kraft. Cadbury closed flat at 785 pence. Shares in Whitbread the brewer added 1.6 per cent to 1269 pence in anticipation of positive results due to be issued on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 continued its steady rise, this time by 7.23 points to close on 5161.87. The index rose 3.5 per cent on the week, thanks largely to the falling US dollar.The FTSE 250 held its ground before closing for the weekend, up a mere 3.86 points to close for the day on 9,377.30

The pound lost some of its pace against the leading currencies, as well as again creeping below the $1.60 mark.

• Pound/US dollar 1.5843
• Pound/Euro 1.10757
• Pound/Japanese Yen 142.1499
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.634

According to figures issued by the Commerce Department, the US trade deficit shrank unexpectedly in August as the weak dollar boosted exports.

The deficit, representing the difference between US imports and exports, fell to $30.7 billion (£19.3 billion) from a revised estimate of $31.9 billion in July.

Exports rose slightly on the back of the weak dollar while imports fell.

The dollar has slipped recently, with traders moving into other currencies as the global economy begins to recover. The sharp fall in the US dollar is giving ammunition to the critics of the Obama administration and fuelling broader concerns about the erosion of America’s reserve currency status.

The Dow Jones index closed strongly for the weekend up 78.07 points to 9864.94. The NASDAQ index continued its consistent rise, up a further 15.35 points to close on 2139.28.

In an unexpected development, but one which is expected to positive implications to the US economy, it was announced on Friday that President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award has been granted for the President’s efforts to reduce the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace. The first African American to hold the country’s highest office, Obama has consistently called for disarmament and since taking office in January has been actively involved in attempting to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.

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Tags: Banking, Barack Obama, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, Carphone Warehouse, Commerce Department, Communication Workers Union, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dave Ward, Dow Jones, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, GM, House Prices, JJB Sports, Kraft, Lord Mandelson, Magna International, Middle East peace process, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Nobel Peace Prize, Obama administration, Opel, postal strike, Postal Workers Union, Recession, Retail, Royal Mail, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tiscali UK, UK Banks, UK business, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US economy, Vauxhall, Whitbread

World leaders announced the Group of 20 nations is replacing the G-8 as the main forum for global economic coordination, reflecting a shift in power from rich countries to emerging markets. The G-8 is not due to be disbanded, instead it will focus on development and security matters. The transfer of influence to the broader group, whose membership ranges from the U.S. to China to Saudi Arabia, symbolizes the fact that the richest industrial nations now lack the sway to govern the world economy alone after their excesses sparked the turmoil that tipped the globe into recession. At the end of a two-day G20 summit, hosted by US President Barack, the world’s leading nations have agreed tough new regulations designed to prevent another global financial crisis. The measures will relate to the amount of money banks have to hold in reserve and to excessive pay for bankers. With a recovery now underway, leaders are trying to temper the excesses that helped trigger the worst financial crisis in seven decades and the deepest recession since World War II. At the same time, richer governments acknowledge they now lack the ability to govern the world economy alone as power shifts to emerging markets such as China.

Before setting of for Pittsburgh, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, announced the appointment of Stephan Wilcke as chief executive of the Asset Protection Agency (APA) The APA has been established to oversee the £585 billion toxic asset insurance scheme, reckoned to be the biggest and perhaps riskiest deal the government has signed:

Wilcke, a former management consultant and private equity boss, will lead a team of up to 50 staff to enforce ensure that Britain’s part-nationalised banks properly manage their impaired loans. Expectations are that Mr. Wilcke’s task will be complicated, not least because the banks have trouble explaining how some of the exotic assets work, due to the fact that many of the officials who agreed the loans left the banks long ago. RBS agreed earlier this year to insure £325 billion of toxic assets while Lloyds aimed to include £260 billion of loans; Lloyds is now trying to raise private capital to limit its participation.

Total business investment in the UK dropped a seasonally adjusted 10.2% sequentially in the second quarter, better than a 10.4% fall estimated previously. Economists expected the decline to be 10.4%. In the first quarter, investments were down a revised 8.9%. In the manufacturing sector, business investments fell 16.2%, faster than a revised 4.6% fall in the first quarter. In the non-manufacturing sector, investments fell 9.5%, more or less the same fall than in the first quarter of 2009. On a yearly basis, business investments fell 21.8%, more than the 18.4% drop that had been estimated, and considerably more than the revised 9.8% fall in the first quarter. Economists expected the decline to remain at 18.4%.

An 18-month high for British Sky Broadcasting helped keep the FTSE 100 steady on Friday, rising 2.4 per cent to 359¾ pence, making them the top blue-chip performer for the week.

Meanwhile, ITV closed 3.5 per cent lower at 44 ¾ pence after refusing to meet the pay demands of prospective chief executive Tony Ball.

JJB Sports, which narrowly avoided administration this year, revealed that first-half losses had almost tripled after problems with stock took a heavy toll on sales and profit margins.

The sportswear retailer struggled to convince suppliers to keep trading with it after breaching its banking covenants last year. The lack of goods in stores saw sales fall 43 per cent to £178.6 million. This translated into a rise in pre-tax losses from £14.8 million to £42.9 million. Shares in the company fell by 2.5 percent to 38.5 pence. .

Shares in 3i Group declined 3.1 percent to 279 pence after the pace of new investments dropped as a lack of debt financing nearly brought the buyout market to a halt. The company have invested £155 million pounds (in the five months through August, compared with the £622 million in the same period of 2008.

British Airways sank 4.3 percent to 220 pence as brokers announced that heir mid-cycle share-price valuations were reached “far earlier than expected.”

Europe’s largest discount airline Ryanair Holdings Plc had their shares slide by 3.4 percent to 3215 pence as the company lowered their estimate for passenger growth while maintaining its earnings forecast.

The FTSE 100 made a minor upward adjustment by an impressive 2.93 points to close on 5,082.20, giving the index a 1.8 per cent decline for the week, while the FTSE 250 continued its free fall on Friday, down 32.58 points to 9060.44.

The pound has hit a four-month low against the dollar, a day after Mervyn King the head of the Bank of England stated this less than welcome opinion that a weak currency was "helpful" to the economy. The pound fell as low as $1.5917, the lowest since early June and then edged back to $1.5939. The pound is still well above the levels hit early in the year when it traded below $1.50 against the dollar. The pound also dropped to a fresh five-month low against the Euro. Another factor hastening the decline in sterling value was renewed fears that interest rates would remain low as G20 leaders announced that their stimulus measures would remain place well into 2010.

• Pound/US dollar 1.5939
• Pound/Euro 1.10858
• Pound/Japanese Yen 143.0041
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.639

Wall Street on Friday made its biggest weekly loss since July after a surprise drop in the sale of durable goods prompted a sell-off in the industrials sector.

New orders for long-lasting goods, from fighter jets to washing machines, fell 2.4 per cent in August, adding to investor concerns over the pace of economic recovery.

Analysts had been expecting a modest rise of 0.4 per cent compared to a 4.8 per cent gain in July, when car sales were boosted by the cash-for-clunkers scheme.

After opening in negative territory, stocks were lifted by data showing consumer confidence was higher than expected this month. Disappointing new home sales soon renewed investors’ concerns and Wall Street gave up its fleeting gains

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to fall going into the weekend down 42.25 points to 9,665.19. The NASDAQ also dropped by 16.69 point to close on 2090.92.

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Tags: 3i Group, Alistair Darling, Asset Protection Agency, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, British Sky Broadcasting, cash for clunkers, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, economic recovery, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, G20, G8, Global Credit Crisis, ITV, JJB Sports, Lloyds, Mervyn King, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, RBS, Recession, Ryanair Holdings Plc, Stephan Wilcke, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tony Ball, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

According to Royal Bank of Scotland its chief executive, Stephen Hester UK Taxpayers will lose out if the bank unable to pay bonuses, in what some could construe as a veiled threat o what could happen if the intense public scrutiny faced by the bailed-out bank is not eased and bonus hungry staff continue to seek greener pastures.

When the bank released their half year profits, an uninspiring increase in profits of £15 million was offset by “poor” net attributable loss to shareholders of £1.1 million.
Hester, whose £9 million pay deal only delivers if the shares reach 70 pence within three years, said the bank had suffered a “damaging but not yet destructive” exodus of staff. He said some guaranteed bonuses were being paid, but that they complied with the demand by the Financial Services Authority of being for no longer than 12 months.

Meanwhile Spanish bank, Santander has shown RBOS the meaning of profit, with an increase of 41 per cent in the first half of this year, totaling £790 million for their UK businesses.
Santander, who owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and part of Bradford & Bingley, reported revenues had also increased by 20 per cent, aided by increased cost savings, as also increased their deposits by 66 per cent, following the integration of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

Santander’s gross mortgage lending through its UK brands totalled £10.8 billion in the first six months of the year, giving it a 16 per cent share of the market. António Horta-Osório, chief executive of Abbey, announced that the first half of the year has been a very good one for the bank.

Company liquidations and individual insolvencies in England and Wales soared to record levels in the second quarter as the economy was throttled by recession and the global credit crisis, data from the government’s Insolvency Service showed Friday.

There were 33,073 individual insolvencies in the second quarter on a non seasonally adjusted basis, the highest level since records began in 1960. That compared with 30,253 in the first quarter of this year

Company failures remained at a 16-year high in the second quarter, but figures on Friday revealed a marked slowdown in the rate of firms falling victim to recession. The Government’s Insolvency Service recorded a 39 percent rise in liquidations in England and Wales.

The Office of Fair Trading has approved Centrica’s bid to buy a 20 percent stake in British Energy from EDF. The £2.3 billion deal will allow Centrica a share in both electricity as well as future profits from four soon-to-be-built nuclear power plants, in addition to claiming 20 percent of British Energy’s un-contracted power output. The OFT granted the approval after concluding that a Centrica-EDF tie-up would be unlikely to create volatility in energy prices,

BAA Aviation has announced that they will be raising their annual cost cuts target by £14 million to £30 million as it continues to identify acquisition opportunities during the economic downturn. The aircraft-servicing company continued to outperform the market despite posting a two percent drop in half-year revenues to £550 million and a similar fall in pre-exceptional operating profits to £50.6 million.

Pre-tax profits declined from £46.7 million pounds to £25.8 million pounds after taking £12.6 million of exceptional charges into account, partly for restructuring. The company’s debt dropped from £554 million to 449 million, while the dividend remained static at 2.3 pence.

Health and beauty retailer Superdrug reported a pre-tax loss of £7.4 million pounds in 2008, compared with a profit of £21.6 million in 2008 For the year to December 27 2008, revenue at the AS Watson-owned group declined marginally by two percent to £1.07 billion.

Signet the jewellery group, has announced that its outlook on both sides of the Atlantic remains “uncertain” after it reported a four percent drop in total sales. The group said like-for-like sales in the UK declined by 4.2 percent in the six months to August 1, with H Samuel falling by 2.2 percent and Ernest Jones down 6.5 percent

Shares in Smith & Nephew edged 0.8 per cent higher at 474 pence on renewed speculation it might become a takeover candidate for US giant Biomet. The speculation follows a period of underperformance for S&N stock, which has slipped 14 per cent from its 2009 high as the weakening economy led patients to delay hip surgery.

Shares in sporting goods retailer, Sports Direct lost 2.5 per cent to close 89 pence on news that the Competition Commission are liable to examine its purchase of 31 stores from rival JJB Sports. If the commission arrives at the conclusion that competition was lessened by the sale. It could bar trading at five overlapping stores, or even place an embargo on the entire sale.

In the banking sector Royal Bank of Scotland fell for the first session in eight, losing 12.1 per cent to 47 pence after it provided a downbeat outlook statement with wider underlying losses than analysts had expected. Lloyds Banking Group, whose more optimistic view of 2010 led its stock to surge this week, took a minor retreat on Friday falling 2.6 per cent. However Barclays continued to remain supreme, gaining 3.1 per cent to close on 365 pence.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index finished for the weekend up 41 points, or 0.9%, at 4,731.56 – its highest close since early October. The FTSE 100 has rebounded 34 percent since March 3 Meanwhile the FTSE 250 continued to climb, rising on Friday by a further 43.91 points to close on 8,421.46

The pound continued to wobble against the other major currencies on Friday.
Pound/US dollar 1.6717
Pound/Euro 1.1761
Pound/Japanese Yen 162.2643
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.8033

Leading US and UK shares closed at their highest levels since last year after better-than-expected US jobless data boosted investor confidence. On the news, the Dow Jones index jumped 114 points, to close for the weekend at 9,370.07, its highest level since November of last year. The NASDAQ also did better, up 27.09 points to close at 2000.25

US President Barack Obama said over the weekend that the fact that the US economy lost only 247,000 jobs in July meant “the worst [of the recession] may be behind us”.
The unemployment rate fell to 9.4%, down from 9.5% in the previous month, the first drop since April 2008.

After reporting a rare loss in the first three months of the year, US financier Warren Buffett’s investment firm has reported a jump in profits.
Between April and June, Berkshire Hathaway made a profit of £2 billion up 15% on the same period a year ago, although revenues fell slightly too around £20.5 billion
In the first quarter, the company made a loss of around £1 billion.

According to official figures, German exports have risen by 7% in June, the fastest pace in nearly three years. In the latest sign of recovery in Europe’s economy, exports for the period totalled 67.4 billion Euros (£57.8 billion) which, while imports of 56.4 billion Euros, brought the country’s trade surplus to 11 billion Euros. These figures are the latest positive signal from the export-focused economy. At the same time, France reported that its trade deficit widened to 4 billion Euros in June, from 3.137 billion Euros for May.

Joining the ever increasing chorus that recovery is just around the corner were the European based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,

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Tags: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, BAA, Bank, Banking, Barack Obama, Barclays, Bradford & Bingley, Centrica, EdF, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, JJB Sports, Royal Bank of Scotland, Smith & Nephew, Superdrug, UK Banks

UK house prices fell more quickly in the first three months of this year than even in the fourth quarter of 2008, a trend that looks set to dim Great Britain’s hopes for a more rapid economic recovery. A recent survey has shown that house prices in England and Wales were 12.7 per cent lower in the first quarter than in the same period in 2008.

Under new proposals to be set by the city regulator, penalties for financial wrongdoing will be tripled with fines for insider dealing and other market abuse set at a minimum of £100,000. The FSA also proposed that a company could be fined up to 20 per cent of its income from the product or business line related to the regulatory action. Individuals could lose up to 40 per cent of their pre-tax income, including bonuses, from a job related to non-market abuse cases. The proposals are part of the FSA’s new emphasis on credible deterrence.

Shares in sports retailer JJB Sports fell by more than 25 per cent after the company confirmed that they are liable to tap shareholders for funds. The news came just weeks after JJB Sports became the first listed UK Company to be saved from administration through a Company Voluntary Agreement.
.
A spokesman for the sports and leisure wear retailer said they were reviewing a number of options, including the disposal of non-core assets, an extension of the maturity date of its working capital facility beyond September 2010, and possibly raising equity capital by way of placing an open offer”

The company has already secured £17.6 million of the £33.9 million it expects to receive from the sale of 53 leases following the disposal of its Fitness Clubs business in March to Dave Whelan Sports, owned by JJB’s founder and former owner.

Supermarket chain, Wm Morrison saw their shares rise by 1.1 per cent to 243 pence on positive news from their broker. Industry forecasts are that sales in the croup will take a downturn after the summer heat wave. However Morrison will be well placed to continue to make profit due to improved margins.

The construction sector held firm on the FTSE yesterday.
Persimmon was up a handsome 7.4 percent to 390 percent after it was announced that their reservation rates had been showing consistent improvement since mid April. As part of a knock on Effect, Barratt Developments rose 7.2 percent to 156 pence, while shares in Bovis Homes rose by 4.3 percent to 406 pence.

The Footsie closed 7.91 points down at 4,187 with trading volumes about three-quarters of the daily average, while the FTSE 250, stood its ground, closing just 1.84 points down on 7,318, 51

Sterling had an indifferent day, retreating slightly against all the leading currencies.
Pound/US dollar 1.6132
Pound/Euro 1.1589
Pound/Japanese Yen 152.9046
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7573

In the United Sates, figures revealed that the level of people falling behind with repaying their consumer loans hit a new high in the first quarter of 2009; The American Bankers Association who compiled the report suggested that rising unemployment in the US was a key figure behind people missing payments.

The percentages of payments that were more than 30 days overdue rose to 3.23 percent making for the highest delinquency levels the 1970s.
Credit card loan payment defaults were also on the rise, rising to 4.75% in first quarter 2009 from 4.52% in the last quarter of 2008.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index closed down 161.27 points to 8136.6. The NASDAQ closed again down for the day, this time by 41.23 points on 1746.17, more or less reversing its impressive gains of the last few weeks.

In a definite signal that a tougher approach is on its way, new trading curbs designed to clamp down on companies and individuals who speculate in oil and the other commodity markets are being examined by US regulators. The move will place further scrutiny on the role of financial investors in the commodities markets, with certain legislative bodies openly placing speculative demand as being among the principal causes for exaggerating price rises.

According to market analysts, the reason that oil prices have risen by more than 60 per cent since the start of March, is that speculators are looking to gain from any rebound in business activity.

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Tags: American Bankers Association, British Economy, Financial News, FSA, JJB Sports, Mortgage, Mortgages, Recession, UK Banks, UK house prices

Although the internet has taken some of the edge of high street shopping scene, as any member of the public will hasten to tell you, patrolling the city centre in search of the latest fashions and sale bargains is as much a part of the British culture as fish and chips. With the credit crunch now at its peak, you would think that the last thing that the UK public would need is more retail outlets. However following the lead of the Conservative government who in the last days of their tenure in 1996 took action to stop UK city and town centres and their high streets from turning into ghost towns, the Labour government may be taking an involuntary lead from them. It seems to be a case of, if these city centre shopping complexes didn’t exist, the government wouldn’t have to do something about them, but their presence is a responsibility and even a liability, meaning that efforts will need to be made, and subsidies handed out to keep these sites becoming eyesores and symbols of urban decay. Retails analysts have predicted that shop vacancy rates could increase to 15 per cent by the end of the year, meaning that close to 140,000 units could be lying vacant by the end of 2009.

There are various ideas being mooted on how to prevent this from happening, some of them original and many foolhardy. One direction that is being investigated is to take empty retail units and convert them, even temporarily, to galleries displaying work of local artists and artisans, or even more obscure, job centers or counseling centres for those who are in financial difficulty.

It wouldn’t take too much imagination to understand that these kind of units would hardly create an atmosphere conducive to successful retailing, and a more realistic approach that is gathering momentum is for the centre owners be given financial incentives by the UK Treasury to allow them much greater flexibility in granting leases, especially in the short term. In turn, local government would endeavor to cut back as much as possible in the time taken to allow planning permission on internal changes.

An interesting breakthrough has come to light in the last few weeks, and could develop to become one of the most viable alternative solutions to the problem.

By taking advantage of a clause of in the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) legislation, an obscure procedure under insolvency law could become a win/win situation for both retailers and centre managers throughout the UK.

Leading the way are JJB Sports the sportswear retailer who are looking to secure a ground-breaking agreement with their landlords, under the protection of the law.

JJB set the ball in motion last month by approaching their landlords with their own variation of a CVA proposal, whilst also stating that it was the only way the company could avoid falling into administration.

Under the terms of the CVA, JJB asked its landlords for permission to pay rent monthly rather than quarterly on its 250 stores in the company that are still trading as well as to reduce rent in another hundred plus units that were closed due to lack of profitability, with high rents being a major factor. Whether these stores will be re-opened if their rents are reduced, or whether JJB are simply trying to reduce their overall overheads is still unclear open.

If JJB succeeds to stay afloat and even reopen some units that are presently lying empty, it will represent a major breakthrough and possibly signal a revival in high street retailing, with other companies bound to follow suit, with the UK public standing to gain from the situation more than anyone else.

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Tags: Financial News, JJB Sports, Recession, Retail

Fears that unemployment will soar in coming months intensified as Marks & Spencer laid plans to shed 1,000 staff and other big companies prepared to cut their staffs and close stores as well.

The Council of Economics and Business Research is forecasting that between 100,000 and 135,000 shop workers will lose their jobs this year.

With the last Woolworth store closing, 27,500 staff have joined the job queues.

Other major retailers such as JJB Sports are expected to announce job cuts in the coming months as the scale in decline of retail sales is revealed.

M&S confirmed plans to cut 1,230 jobs from a 70,000 strong workforce and that 25 of its Simply Food stores and two smaller M&S branded stores will close following a decline in sales.

For the 13 weeks to December 27, M&S sales fell by 7.1% .

Hotel group InterContinental, with brands including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Indigo, is rumoured to be drawing up plans to shed up to 200 jobs in the UK, where it has about 240 managed and franchised properties.

Bellway Homes, the house builder, that said in November that it would consider job cuts in the run-up to its annual meeting next week, is also understood to be preparing to cut staff in response to the tough housing market.

The Stag Brewery at Mortlake, London, is to close, with the loss of up to 182 jobs.

The brewery, which produces Budweiser, Bud Ice and Michelob Ultra, will shut next year as part of £690 million cost savings strategy announced by US brewery giant InBev after its $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch.

Markets

FTSE100

Open Close Change % Change

4579.60 4638.90 + 59.30 points 1.29%

DOW

Open Close Change % Change

8952.89 9015.10 + 62.21 points 0.69%

CURRENCY –

Pound v Euro

Open Close Change % Change

1.04 Euros 1.05 euros +0.01 cents 0.96%

Pound v US Dollar

Open Close Change % Change

$1.45 $1.46 +0.01 cents 0.69%

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Tags: Bellway Homes, Credit Crunch, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Indigo, InterContinental, JJB Sports, M&S, Retail, UK Recession, Woolworth