WEEK FROM 28/12/2011 TO 03/01/2012
BUSINESS NEWS
Jaguar Land Rover is to double the size of its Merseyside factory, one of the biggest car manufacturing facilities in the UK, creating 1,500 new jobs.
Bentley sold 7,003 cars in 2011; this was a 37% rise, with the luxury carmaker stating demand had returned to pre-recession levels. Meanwhile Nissan set a new UK record for a single car plant, producing 480,485 vehicles in 2011, a rise of 14%; extra staff were taken on to meet demand.
Administrators Deloitte has made 1,610 employees at Barratts Priceless redundant; the administrator of the troubled shoe chain is still trying to find a buyer for the 173 high street stores which remain open.
Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has said it will pay Exxon Mobil £164m in compensation for assets nationalised in 2007, less than a third of the £581m the International Chamber of Commerce ruled was required to compensate the US firm.
Hyundai has said it expects sales to rise by only 6% in 2012 to seven million vehicles due to the global economic downturn; the South Korean carmaker, which part owns Kia Motors, is the fifth largest vehicle maker in the world and saw a combined rise in sales of 15% in 2011.
ECONOMIC NEWS
UK retail sales shoppers reduced in number by more than 25% on New Year’s Day, compared with 2010, though this was due in part to January 1 falling on a Sunday when large shops are only allowed to trade for six hours; the number of shoppers on high streets and shopping centres in the UK through-out last week increased by just 0.75%.
A key survey suggested more than 50% of UK finance directors now expect a recession, due to growing concerns over a break-up of the euro and the resulting “severe” effect on the UK economy; this is double the percentage a year ago.
German unemployment fell to 6.8% from 6.9% in November, with the number of people out of work down to 2.88 million in December. This is the lowest rate since 1991.
Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy, driven by its vast supply of commodities including oil and iron ore; the nation’s GDP rose to £1.62tn in 2011 compared with £1.35tn in 2010. UK GDP only grew to £1.59tn in 2011 compared with 2010’s £1.44tn.
Singapore’s GDP grew 3.6% in Q4, from a year earlier, and was down from 5.9% in the previous quarter, as reduced demand and supply impacted manufacturing; for the full year the economy only grew by 4.8% compared with 14.5% in 2010.
China’s manufacturing contracted in December as economic troubles in the key European and US markets hit demand for the nation’s goods.
Data supplied by Legal & General