XP Power shares jump as it doubles profits

Duncan Penny, chief executive, said the company achieved strong growth in North America and Europe. He expects demand in the US, which accounts for about 50pc of sales, to increase considerably.

“The US was probably hit the worst in the downturn, it has come back the strongest this year and again there are a number of nice new programmes that we’ve won in the US across a number of different sectors,” he said.
“All the sectors are performing very strongly,” Mr Penny said. “We’re not seeing any signs of any double-dip recessions and we fully expect to continue the growth in 2011.”
Analysts at Investec said: “We believe XP Power has never been in better shape. It is exposed to recovering end-markets, but, more importantly, new and existing customers are ordering more product.”
The company increased its interim dividend – payable October 12 – by 30pc to 13p.
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House prices fall for first time in six months due to shortage of buyers

By Becky BarrowLast updated at 2:39 PM on 29th July 2010

Only the wealthy, the well-paid and people with generous parents can afford to get onto the housing ladder, the Nationwide building society said today.
It warned the number of people able or willing to buy a home is rapidly shrinking.
Martin Gahbaeur, chief economist at the Nationwide, said: ‘A combination of restrictive credit conditions and uncertainty about the future economic outlook continues to limit the pool of buyers to those with relatively large financial resources.’
The lack of buyers triggered a fall in house prices this month, down 0.5 per cent to an average of £169,347.

Causes: Nationwide Building Society has said fall came as househunter numbers dwindled amid uncertainty over jobs and the wider economy

Mr Gahbaeur predicts house prices will continue to wobble for the rest of the year, ‘osciallating between increases and declines, but probably more declines.’
One of the key reasons for the lack of buyers is that workers are worried about the crippling impact of the Government’s austerity plans.
Around 600,000 public sector workers are predicted to lose their jobs, with many facing a struggle to find a new job in a private sector where many bosses are not hiring.
Mr Gahbaeur said there is widespread concern ‘about the medium-term impact of fiscal austerity on personal finances.’
 

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Jim Rogers predicts a new recession in 2010

Speaking in an interview with business television channel CNBC, the septuagenarian investor said that “since the beginning of time” there has been a recession every four-to-six years, and that’s mean another one is due around 2012.

However, he said that due to the extraordinary measures already adopted by central banks and governments around the world, the arsenal of available tools to combat the next recession is somewhat lacking.
With reference to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, he said: “Is Mr. Bernanke going to print more money than he already has? No, the world would run out of trees.”
Meanwhile, Robert Shiller, co-creator of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller house price index, warned that the next downturn may come even sooner.
“For me a double-dip is another recession before we’ve healed from this recession. The probability of that kind of double-dip is more than 50pc. I actually expect it,” he said. His prediction came despite the S&P/Case-Shiller index for May showing a 4.6pc year-on-year increase in house prices in 20 major US conurbations.
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Reckitt Benckiser sees profits jump

The company, which is headquartered in Slough, reported pre-tax profits for the second quarter of £507m compared with £414m for the same three months in 2009. For the first half of the year, pre-tax profits hit £964m, up from £819m.The company stuck to its full year targets of a 5pc rise in underlying sales and a 10pc increase in operating profit. The dividend for the half-year rose 16pc to 50p.Bart Becht, chief executive, said that the first half of the year has benefitted from “excellent growth in developing markets.”Reckitt has also held on to its customers during the downturn by spending consistently on advertising. It has stuck to a strategy of simple TV commercials which state what the product does and why it is better than its rivals, such as a Cillit Bang commercial which gained a cult following, showing a penny being cleaned to a high shine.While Reckitt is much smaller by revenue than the consumer goods companies it is most often compared with – Unilever and Procter & Gamble of the US, its margins are the highest of the three, at 24.4pc. That compares with P&G’s 20.4pc and Unilever’s 14.8pc.Five Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Imperial Tobacco lights up for income-seekers

Questor says BUY

ALTHOUGH investing in tobacco companies is not to everybody’s taste, the
valuation of Imperial Tobacco at the moment looks pretty compelling -
especially for income-seekers.

Last week, the company tabled a third quarter update that disappointed the
market - although the shares had been falling ahead of the announcement.

Imperial’s cigarette volumes for the nine months to June were down 4.3pc as a
result of market declines in Spain, the US, Russia and Ukraine.

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London companies have record 32 people applying for every job

On average, a total of 10 candidates are battling for every job going
nationwide, the analysis of recruitment activity, out today, showed. Some
roles, such as secretarial and PA jobs, attracted as many as 26 applications
per vacancy.

The number of jobs available has increased by 6.5pc from the first three
months of the year to the second quarter, with transport, telecoms and
customer service roles faring particularly well.

However, a number of sectors continue to suffer in the supply of jobs,
including nursing, education and senior appointments, the study showed.
Recruitment sales is currently attracting the lowest number of applications
per vacancy, with just five candidates per position, the analysis found.

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North-South gap in debt data

Personal insolvencies have been at high levels in recent times

Figures showing the hotspots for personal insolvencies in England point to a North-South divide last year.
The highest rate of personal insolvency - such as bankruptcies and individual voluntary arrangements - was in the North East of England in 2009.
The lowest level was in London, new data from the Insolvency Service shows.
Personal insolvency numbers are currently at record highs, in part owing to people finding themselves out of work and with debts in the downturn.
Figures The data for England and Wales gives a breakdown of the geographical areas in which personal insolvencies are most prevalent.

This shows that the highest levels were in the North East where there were 38.1 personal insolvencies per 10,000 adults in 2009.
This was higher than the average in England and Wales of 31.1, and considerably higher than the lowest - 19.6 in London.
The same two areas were also the locations for the highest and lowest rates of personal insolvencies in 2008.
However, the previous year, the South West of England was at the highest level. This region remains the second highest in 2009 - with 35.9 personal insolvencies per 100,000 of the population.
On a more local level, Ealing and Wandsworth in London had the lowest personal insolvency rates, apart from the City of London, although the numbers were up slightly in 2009 compared with 2008.
Typical of the average across England and Wales are the Wirral and north-east Derbyshire.
At the top end of the scale are Derwentside, Easington and Cannock Chase, which had the highest personal insolvency rates per 10,000 adults in 2009. They had all seen large increases compared with 2008.
Records Although these figures show the picture in 2009, data already published shows that large numbers of people are facing debts in 2010.
The number of people being declared insolvent in England and Wales has been at record highs for five consecutive quarters.
There were 35,682 personal insolvencies in the first three months of 2010, a 17.9% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.
Debt charities are urging people to approach advice agencies for help as soon as they realise they are facing financial difficulties.

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Unemployment tribunal claims see ‘dramatic’ rise as downturn bites

Owen Warnock, partner at law firm Eversheds, said the “dramatic”
rise in overall cases was largely due to multiple claimant claims, which
rose by nearly 90pc on the previous year. This is where two or more people
bring cases arising out of very similar circumstances, often backed by
unions, largely in equal pay, working time, TUPE and redundancy cases, he
said.

“Unions are pursuing more claims by using the tribunal route rather than
industrial action, which is quite common in a recession,” he said. He
added that employers could typically justify pay freezes and other austerity
measures during a downturn to save jobs – and avoid strikes – meaning
multiple claimant cases were the union’s “main weapon”.

The number of unfair dismissal claims rose from 52,700 cases last year to
57,400 this year. However, claims brought against a failure to consult on
redundancies fell by about a third to 7,500 cases.

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G20 SUMMIT: Banks told to hoard cash in case of crisis

By
James Chapman
Last updated at 12:01 PM on 28th June 2010

G20 leaders pledge to slash deficits in half by 2013 But leaders agree to ‘move at their own pace’Banks given time to prepare for new rulesWorld stocks rise on G20 agreementBanks are to be forced to save enough cash - up to £130billion - to prevent another multi-billion pound bailout by taxpayers. A deal hammered out by world leaders at the G20 summit in Canada last night will mean financial institutions being required to hold huge amounts of ‘high quality’ capital to act as a cushion against another financial crisis. The G20 communique agreed that all countries should ensure taxpayers are not stuck with the bill when banks fail - but left it up to individual countries to decide how they want to do that.
New deal: Prime Minister David Cameron with Barack Obama and George Osborne at the G20 Summit where world leaders hammered out a deal where banks will be forced to save enough cash to prevent another financial crisis
In a distinct change of tone from recent summits - and despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s concerns that cutting stimulus spending too quickly could hurt the global recovery - the G20 leaders also used their communique on Saturday to commit rich nations to cutting budget deficits in half by 2013. They also agreed to stabilize deficits by 2016. That was a big win for Britain, which has the largest budget deficit in the G-20.

With the spectre of a Greek-style tragedy hanging over their heads,
most leaders agreed on the necessity of chopping down their debt.
But there remained disagreement on how to do so, with leaders eventually agreeing that each country to move at its own pace.
BUT WILL IT ALL WORK?After spending massive amounts of money to rescue the global economy from the worst downturn in decades, the G20 have reversed course and promised to cut their deficits in half in terms of the global economy in just three years.This pledge would represent a sea change in how the world’s major economies are handling their finances.It could usher in sizeable tax increases and massive cuts in government programs.There is certainly the possibility that the Greek debt crisis has scared many nations with similarly high debt burdens into doing what they can to improve their budget outlook to avoid their own Greek-style tragedy.Greece is facing years of painful austerity measures after it was forced to accept massive bailouts from its neighbours when it could no longer meet its debt obligations.Whether leaders will have the political will to follow through on their G20 pledge remains to be seen. ‘The G-20 goals are very good, but history tells us it is very unlikely that they will be met,’ said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University.
World stocks were creeping up again this morning on the news from
the summit - while banks were breathing a sigh of relief at the
flexibility they had gained in building the ‘cushion’ against another
financial crisis.
Banking executives had warned that the move will saddle them with billions more in extra costs. Chancellor George Osborne hailed the agreement to give banks a breathing space to prepare for the new rules, which will not come into force before 2012. They will be phased in in a concession to France and Germany, who fiercely resisted too stringent a measure amid concerns that their banks are more vulnerable. Britain agreed that implementing the new regime too quickly would mean choking off bank lending and risking a ‘double dip’ global recession. A delay is better than diluting the new rules to meet the original deadline, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the body overseeing reform, said.’We’ll make sure that this new regulation and the pace of implementation is not going to cause either market disruption or hamper the recovery in any way,’ FSB Chairman Mario Draghi told reporters in Toronto.It marks a victory for intense lobbying by banks and countries such as Japan, Germany and France that say the shift to stricter rules by 2012 would have imposed huge capital-raising burdens on banks and jeopardize lending and economic recovery.Full details, including what percentage of balance sheets banks will be made to hold, will be thrashed out at the next G20 meeting in Seoul, South Korea, later this year. But world leaders have already agreed that banks should not be able to load themselves up with more debt to meet the rules. ’NEW KID ON THE BLOCK’ CAMERON’S G20 SUCCESSIt was the new Prime Minister’s first international summit - and most are calling it a victory.   David Cameron won rare public praise from Chinese President Hu Jintao, began a thawing of Britain’s frosty relations with Russia and bolstered the  ’special relationship’ with the United States - swapping beers with President Barack Obama.While some other world leaders have grown weary of the G8 and G20 carousel of meetings around the globe, an energized Mr Cameron came to Canada determined to make his mark.The agreement to commit rich nations to cutting budget deficits in half by 2013 and to stabilize deficits by 2016 was a big win for Britain, which has the largest budget deficit in the G20.Mr Cameron held several one-on-one chats with other leaders at the summit, cramming in as many bilateral meetings as possible.He held his first private meeting with Mr Obama since taking power.Despite their relationship being strained over the BP spill, they focused on similiarities in their world outlooks. he relationship between the U.S. and Britain is arguably more important today than at any other time since World War II, strengthened in recent years by their joint - and difficult - campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Obama and Mr Cameron extended their time together in Canada when Mr Cameron hitched a ride with Mr Obama on his helicopter between summits after his own aircraft was grounded by fog.The warmth extended to Mr Cameron’s meetings with other leaders, too.At a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Mr Cameron raised thorny issues such as the fatal poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, an incident that has damaged relations between the countries. But that didn’t stop Mr Medvedev from expressing a desire to make bilateral relations ‘more productive and more intense’.Chinese President Hu Jintao, meanwhile, invited Mr Cameron to visit China on his way to the next G-20 meeting in Seoul in November, an offer the British leader readily accepted.
Instead, most of the capital will have to be held in equity  -  meaning shareholders, rather than taxpayers, will bear the brunt if there is a repeat of the banking crisis of 2007 and 2008. The summit communique said: ‘The amount of capital will be significantly higher and the quality of capital significantly improved when the new rules are fully implemented. This will enable banks to withstand, without government support, stresses of the magnitude associated with the recent financial crisis.’ The rules will be enforced by the G20’s Financial Stability Board, though potential sanctions against banks which fail to abide by them have not yet been agreed. Britain failed to persuade all other world leaders to follow its lead on a new banking levy. The coalition introduced a £2billion-a-year supertax on balance sheets in last week’s emergency Budget. France and Germany will follow our example, but other countries  -  including Canada  -  have refused. ‘Some countries are pursuing a financial levy. Other countries are pursuing different approaches,’ the summit’s communique said tersely.Any tax now introduced in Germany, France and Britain will have to be modest or else risk banks shifting operations to more tax-friendly locations. The summit concluded that the financial sector should make a ‘fair and substantial contribution’ towards fixing the economic crisis.Mr Osborne insisted that there would be no ‘flight’ of banks from the UK to other countries not imposing a bank tax as a result. ‘I am confident London remains a good place to come and do financial services,’ he said. ‘I think we have calibrated it correctly. It is not at a level that drives business abroad but it is at a level that correctly prices the support that the Government offers to banks and the implicit guarantee that we now can see exists.’ He added: ‘I think people will have seen a change of tone at the G20, as people have understood the impact of the sovereign debt crisis and the necessity of countries to prove not just to international investors but to their own domestic populations that they have got serious, credible plans to live within their means.’

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Business briefing: old guard pin hopes on new media

Traditional media, from television to newspapers, is pinning its hopes for a recovery in advertising on mobile devices such as the iPad and on the spread of high-speed broadband.
Revenue across the industry, including broadcasting, print and online companies, fell 3.8 per cent to £49.6 billion last year, according to an annual survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Television advertising revenue fell by almost 11 per cent last year and that of radio by more than 7 per cent as the downturn took its toll.
But the recession has not hindered the growth of smartphones or dampened demand for tablet computers, such as the iPad. These devices, coupled with a recovery in advertising, are expected to inspire a revival. PwC is forecasting that revenue will edge 1.3 per cent higher in 2010 and then gather pace over the next four years. By 2014, it expects revenue to reach nearly £60 billion, 20 per cent higher than at the end of 2009.
Much of the growth will come from digital media as the rise in broadband speeds and the functionality of mobile phones continue to rise. Growth in internet advertising, which slowed to 5 per cent in 2009, is expected to return to double digits next year, with revenue set to hit £6.3 billion by 2014. Mobile advertising is expected to grow to £355 million in Britain by 2014, compared with £75 million last year. Television advertising is expected to benefit from the move to integrate the internet into the set, with revenue rising to £4.1 billion, from £3.3 billion last year.

Print advertising across newspapers is also expected to recover, rising to £6.3 billion, from £6.1 billion in 2010.
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