New car sales rise 10.8% in June

The car industry still expects a tough second half of the year

UK new car sales rose 10.8% in June compared with the same month last year, industry figures have shown, despite the end of the scrappage scheme.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 195,226 new cars were sold in June, adding that the performance was “above expectations”.
June registrations were boosted by a rise of more than 25% in fleet sales.
In the six months from January to June, there were 1,208,662 new registrations, a 19.9% rise on the first half of 2009.
June last year was the first full month when new car buyers could take advantage of the scrappage incentive.
The scheme, which offered new buyers a £2,000 discount if they scrapped a car that was more than 10 years old, started on 18 May 2009 and came to an end on 31 March 2010.
‘Unique’ factors SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said the figures came as a pleasant surprise.
“Like many, we were anticipating that this would be a difficult month because of the end of the scrappage scheme,” he said.

Private sales in June were 3.3% lower than last year.
In addition to the rise seen in the fleet market, the business sector also enjoyed an 18.4% increase in sales.
Mr Everitt added that there were a couple of “unique” factors influencing the rise in these sectors.
“There is some inventory building going on. During the depths of the recession most companies cut back quite a lot on inventory so we’re seeing some impact there,” he said.
“But also, this time last year there was such a big rush in scrappage scheme vehicles and private vehicles being sold that that crowded out some of the fleet market.”
VAT stimulus? Mr Everitt was wary, though, of what the remainder of the year would hold for the car industry.
“I think the next six months are still going to be a very tough time for us. We would expect to see some dip following a buoyant first half of the year,” he said.
But he added: “Perversely the increase in VAT that is scheduled for the beginning of January 2011 may actually give us a bit of stimulus towards the end of the year as people try to avoid that increase in cost.”
The standard rate of VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20% from 4 January next year.

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

David Willetts challenges EU trade barriers

In a letter at the weekend to the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce and the
EEF, Mr Willetts said the Government had evidence of “real barriers
experienced by UK companies caused by international standards not being
recognised in certain EU member states, a lack of standards in some sectors
in certain countries, and clashing national and European standards.”

The minister said that, because the EC consultation took place during the
pre-general election “purdah” period, Britain did not have a
proper chance to make representations. He told The Daily Telegraph he
was “confident” that a submission from him would be accepted
despite the passing of the deadline.

In his letter Mr Willetts said: “With over half the UK’s trade being with
other EU member states it is vital we do all we can to make the single
market function as smoothly as possible for British businesses.”

Read more

Number of customers complaining about their banks doubles

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:44 PM on 11th May 2010

The Financial Services Authority  says banks have been dealing with back-dated complaints
More than two million people complained about banks during the second half of 2009 - double the number seen during the first half of the year, figures showed today.A total of 2.2 million people made a complaint to their bank during the period, with the institutions accounting for the lion’s share of the 2.65 million complaints made against all financial companies during the six months.But the Financial Services Authority said the steep increase had been driven by banks handling two years’ worth of back-dated complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges.The complaints had been put on hold while a High Court test case between the the banks and the Office of Fair Trading over the charges was carried out.But the FSA waiver was lifted in December after the banks won the case, leading to them having to formally handle the complaints.General insurers received the second highest level of complaints at 421,368, 44% of which related to advice and the sale of products, and are likely to relate to ongoing claims for redress following the mis-selling of controversial payment protection insurance.All other sectors of the financial services industry received fewer than 100,000 complaints during the period.Just over 89% of complaints were closed within eight weeks, although only 42% were upheld in favour of the consumer.

Financial services groups paid out a total of £283.6 million in compensation during the period.Banks paid out the highest level of redress at £202.6 million, followed by general insurance intermediaries at £20.4 million.But only £46.3 million of the total was paid out in relation to banking products, with £143.8 million relating to general insurance and protection products.The FSA warned last month that it was taking tough action after finding weaknesses in the way the major banks dealt with dissatisfied customers.It said two banks may face enforcement action over the poor way they handled customer complaints, while five out of the six banks it looked at had agreed to make “significant” changes to the way they dealt with complaints.

Share this article:

Read more

Exchange-traded funds: Q&A

By Emma Wall






Published: 10:44AM BST 16 Apr 2010

But what exactly are ETFs? And are they as transparent and low-cost as the
champions of this investment format would have us believe? Here we outline
what investors need to know if they are interested in ETFs.

What are ETFs?

ETFs are funds that are traded on a stock exchange like shares. They are a
pooled investment fund, where an individual can gain exposure to
a particular indices or commodity, providing the investor with the same
returns as the underlying market.

Read more

UK economy ‘grew faster’ in the first three months of 2010

By Angela Monaghan, Economics Reporter






Published: 5:00PM BST 02 Apr 2010

Economic growth of about 0.5pc is expected for the first three months of the
year, compared with 0.4pc growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, following a
resilient performance from some of Britain’s key sectors.

The Office for
National Statistics will not publish its first estimate of
gross domestic product for the first quarter, until April 23, but economists
have based their forecasts on the most recent evidence from business
surveys.

“We are pencilling in a rise of 0.5pc. We’re seeing significant
acceleration in manufacturing,” said David Page, economist at Investec. “The
caveat is snow disrupted activity in early months of the quarter, so there
is some uncertainty but we are expecting the recovery to gain ground.”

Read more

Competition for jobs will remain strong in 2010

By James Caan

Published: 8:19AM GMT 18 Jan 2010

Can we turn our fortunes and confidence around for the coming decade? If I
were an employer hiring at the start of 2010, what would I be looking for in
a job hunter’s CV?

This year is an important one, as we’ll have a general election. The
Government has been driving initiatives to help keep businesses buoyant and
to get the young back in employment. But what about the jobseekers
themselves?

Read more

Bill Miller expects US shares to rise 20pc in 2010

By Matt Goodburn

Published: 7:11AM GMT 06 Jan 2010

Legg Mason Capital Management’s veteran chief investment officer and chairman,
Bill Miller, believes the market is underestimating the potential rate of US
GDP growth in 2010.

Mr Miller is tipping the US stockmarket to rise by up to 20pc over the next 12
months, on the back of significant GDP growth, which he predicts could be as
high as 8pc.

Read more

Britsh manufacturing output bounces back

Reuters

Published: 10:43AM GMT 05 Nov 2009

The figures from
the Office for National Statistics add to the raft of conflicting
data about the British economy over the past month.

Factory output rose 1.7pc in September, almost reversing a 2pc decline in
August. This was was much higher than economists’ forecasts and the biggest
gain since July 2002.

However, the ONS said the figures on their own would not lead to any
significant change to its estimate of third-quarter GDP, which shocked
analysts last month when it showed a 0.4pc fall between July and September.

Read more

Recession and unemployment: the worst is yet to come

The economy has shrunk by 5.6 per cent from its pre-recessionary peak (Q1
2008); in the space of just over a year our economy has been returned to the
size it was at the end of 2005. Simply talking about the size of the
economy, however, does not do justice to the nature of recessions.

People, and in particular those who have lost their jobs, feel much more
anxious and less happy than they did in 2005. At their core, recessions are
the bearers of misery: they make people poorer.

Unemployment has increased from 1.7 million people at the start of 2008 to 2.5
million. These numbers are stark but how do they compare with the previous
two UK recessions?

Read more

Factory gate prices rise in September

Prices at the factory gate rose for the first time in five months in
September, with almost all sectors taking part in the unexpected rise,
according to official figures today.

The Office for National Statistics said that non seasonally adjusted output
prices rose 0.5 per cent in September.

It took the annual rate of inflation to 0.4 per cent, the first positive
reading since April. Prices registered a 0.3 per cent fall in August.

Read more

Next Page »