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House prices: Figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government showed that house prices rose by 1.1 per cent in April, with the average price reaching £189,215 — 13 per cent lower than in April last year.
Tracker mortgages: The average interest rate on a tracker loan with a 25 per cent deposit rose to 3.99 per cent during May, up from 3.86 per cent in April, according to the Bank of England. The cost of five-year and ten-year fixed-rate loan deals also rose.
The economy: Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, said that it would probably not be until late autumn that policymakers could tell if the economy was on the mend. He was concerned that banks were still not lending enough to foster recovery.
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Public services: Productivity across the public sector, gauged by the extra amount of services delivered and resources used, fell by a cumulative 3.2 per cent over the decade from 1998 to 2007, the Office for National Statistics reported.
German industrial output: Official figures showed that German industrial output fell by 1.9 per cent in April. Analysts had expected a rise of 0.1 per cent. Production was affected by a 2.9 per cent fall in manufacturing output, which was depressed by a 6.4 per cent decline in capital goods production.
German exports: Figures showed that German exports fell by 4.8 per cent in April, reversing the rise seen in March, and imports fell to their weakest level since Novermber 2008.
US bank repayments: Officials have given ten of the nation’s biggest banks approval to pay back a combined $68 billion (£41.8 billion) of taxpayers’ money via the Government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.
US consumer confidence: The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index climbed to 50.8 in June, from 48.6 in May, its highest reading since November 2008. A figure above 50 indicates optimism.
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Trade credit insurance: The Government extended the scope of its £5 billion trade credit insurance scheme as it emerged that only 13 companies had been accepted so far. About 14,000 groups use the insurance to cover themselves against not being paid for the goods they supply, but many insurers have raised premiums or withdrawn from high-risk markets.
Bramdean Alternatives: Nicola Horlick emerged as the mystery bidder for the asset manager that Vincent Tchenguiz, the property investor, is seeking to liquidate. Ms Horlick had made her informal approach through her Petersfield Asset Management vehicle on March 17. She has until July 31 to make a formal bid, otherwise Bramdean Alternatives will start to sell its assets and pay back the money to shareholders.
Lloyds Banking Group: The bank it will close all its 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester branches and shut other parts of its mortgage business with the loss of 1,660 jobs. Intelligent Finance, the bank’s internet and telephone business, will stop offering new mortgages and Bank of Scotland will no longer sell home loans through intermediaries.
Keydata Investment Services: The insolvent investment group missold tax-efficient savings products to thousands of individual investors, it emerged, as buyers queued to acquire the troubled company. The Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, had declared Keydata insolvent on Monday.
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Northern Rock: The Treasury has told its investment banking advisers to examine the feasibility of selling Northern Rock, the nationalised lender, back to the City in the autumn.
Merrill Lynch: The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it would issue the US Federal Reserve with a subpoena, ordering the central bank to hand over documents related to Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank.
Berkeley Group: The construction company said that Saad, the Saudi Arabian group and its largest investor, had sold 16 million shares in the UK construction company at a discounted 701p each. This comes after Saad said last week that it would restructure its debt after it ran into unspecified difficulties and the Saudi central bank froze the accounts of Maan al-Sanea, Saad’s billionaire chairman.
Henderson Global Investors: The investment company’s UK Retail Warehouse Fund said that it had sold Enfield Retail Park in Enfield, North London, to the Universities Superannuation Scheme for £38.35 million — an 8.5 per cent yield.
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Diageo: The world’s biggest drinks group has signed an exclusive deal with the Marnier Lapostolle family to distribute Grand Marnier liqueurs in 61 markets across Europe, including Russia, Germany, Spain and France.
Scottish & Newcastle UK: The brewer, which is owned by Heineken, is to launch a multimillion-pound advertising campaign for Foster’s, coinciding with industry statistics suggesting that the brand had overtaken Carling for the first time as the bestselling standard lager in the off-trade grocery sector.
Real Good Food Company: Full-year revenues at the group fell by 5 per cent to £219 million, mainly because of a 7 per cent sales fall at its Napier Brown sugars division, which supplies food manufacturers from its base in Normanton, near Leeds. Underlying pre-tax profits slumped to £900,000, from almost £4 million.
Gianni Versace: The Italian fashion house has named Gian Giacomo Ferraris as chief executive, replacing Giancarlo Di Risio. Mr Ferraris has been chief executive of the Jil Sander fashion group since 2004 and will take up his new role on July 15.
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Dairy Farmers of Britain: A Lincoln dairy owned by the failed Dairy Farmers of Britain co-operative is to close with the immediate loss of most of its 127-strong workforce, after PricewaterhouseCoopers, the receiver, failed to find a buyer for the business.
General Motors: The carmaker said that Edward Whitacre Jr, a former chairman and chief executive of AT&T, the American telecoms group, will become chairman of the reorganised company this year. He will replace Kent Kresa. GM is operating under bankruptcy protection as it seeks to reorganise and shed assets. The new entity will be majority-owned by the US Government.
Volvo: The Swedish carmaker has cancelled 335 planned job cuts after a deal with the IF Metall union. Instead, salaries will be cut by up to 4 per cent and working hours will be cut by 10 per cent at one of its plants. A similar deal last month saved 600 jobs.
Manganese Bronze: The Coventry maker of London’s black cabs has admitted that it may have to leave the main London market and move to the Alternative Investment Market instead. The news came as it announced a placing of 5.4 million shares at 187p, raising £9.4 million.
GlaxoSmithKline: The London-listed pharmaceuticals group said that it had forged an alliance with Shenzhen Neptunus to make flu vaccines for China, boosting its presence in a key emerging market. GSK added that it would take an initial 40 per cent stake in the joint venture for a contribution of cash and assets equivalent to £21 million.
China Iron and Steel Association: The country’s steel industry group said that it opposed the proposed venture between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the leading iron ore producers, as a monopolistic move. China imports nearly all of its iron ore.
Punch Taverns: The embattled pub company will make a further dent in its £5 billion debt mountain after selling 11 of its top pubs, including seven in London, to Greene King, the Abbot Ale and IPA brewer, for £30.4 million.
Gambling: Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Sport, has announced that the funding for the research, education and treatment of problem gamblers would continue to be provided by the gambling and betting industry on a voluntary basis, removing the threat of a levy on all licence-holders. The industry has agreed to provide £5 million a year.
Arora International Hotels: The group, advised by Macfarlanes, the City law firm, has won a 20-month battle to secure planning consent at The Brit Insurance Oval in South London, the home of Surrey County Cricket Club. The plans were called in by the Government last year after intervention by the Health & Safety Executive.
IG Group: Shares in the financial spread-betting company rose by more than 10 per cent after it said that it was on track for pre-tax profits of £125 million in the year to May 31, ahead of City expectations, after a recovery in trading at its UK and Australian businesses.
Thomas Cook: A majority stake in Britain’s second-biggest travel group is expected to be available after the collapse of Arcandor, the German retailer that has a 52.8 per cent holding. Arcandor applied for bankruptcy after Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, refused to provide it with €437 million (£377 million) of state aid.
Sport Media Group: The publisher of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport said that there had been an “encouraging” increase in its newspaper sales, with circulation rising to levels seen in November 2008, with an average of 75,000 copies a day on weekdays.
Setanta: Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke, the founders of the satellite sports broadcaster, were trying to organise a £100 million rescue as speculation rose that it would fall into administration.
BP: The oil and gas group is poised to appoint its first chairman who is neither British nor Irish, having whittled down its shortlist of possible successors to Peter Sutherland, its chairman, to two candidates who are based in continental Europe and North America. Separately, BP said that it was to part company with Vivienne Cox, chief executive of its alternative energy division.
Sinopec: The Chinese oil refiner is in preliminary talks about acquiring Addax Petroleum, the Canadian oil and gas explorer. Addax, whose shares are listed in Toronto and London, issued a statement noting the speculation over a possible acquisition after its shares had soared on Monday.
BowLeven: The AIM-listed African-focused oil and gas explorer has announced a $114 million (£70.1 million) share placing to help the development of its IF field, offshore Cameroon.
Heritage Oil: Tony Buckingham, founder and chief executive of the London-based explorer, will become a FTSE 100 chief executive when Heritage Oil merges with Genel Enerji, the Turkish group, to create a Kurdish-focused oil explorer valued at £3.5 billion.
Harveys: The Advertising Standards Authority said that advertisements by the furniture retail group saying “10 per cent off throughout the store” were likely to mislead consumers into thinking that everything was discounted.
Capita: The outsourcing group said that it would be buying Carillion’s IT Services business for £36 million. The unit, which was acquired by Carillion when it bought Alfred McAlpine, offers outsourcing, managed services and network infrastructure solutions to external clients.
UMC: The Taiwanese computer chip maker reported sales of T$7.514 billion (£140.2 million) during May, down by 12.7 per cent from a year ago but up by 9.3 per cent from April. This was its third month-on-month rise.
Telstra: IBM, the US computer group, said that it had won a $594 million (£365.2 million), five-year contract with the Australian telecoms provider to offer more automation and remote management of its technology systems.
Go-Ahead: The transport group has secured an almost six-year extension to its Southern rail franchise, which operates trains between Brighton and London Victoria, as well as the Gatwick Express service.
British Airways: Figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show that the carrier is paying its cabin crew and pilots up to twice as much as rival airlines, prompting BA to demand significant cuts from its staff.
Solar power: Advanced green technologies — such as superheated solar towers and gas from trees — can compete with industry-backed carbon-trapping technology for billions of euros of European Union funding, according to a report. Money could also go to giant wind turbines.