Mobile phone operators “around the world” are seeking mergers as a way to share the costs of capital infrastructure expenditure. In the US the number of major groups might reduce to three. In Greece worsening economic conditions mean there may soon be only two mobile operators to choose between. Regulators are trying to stop this …
Author archives: Permabusiness
Tesco forced to postpone mortgages
Tesco, striving to build ‘the people’s bank’, had been expected to introduce mortgages this autumn. But plans have had to be postponed as the company struggles with IT systems and a “raft of tougher legislation.” Tesco has been very keen to move into banking, having been negatively affected by price rises on core purchases such …
Shift to the east
At least three stories in today’s FT have this theme: Alan Lewis, the millionaire property and retail entrepreneur, has put the Tommy Nutter brand up for sale. Tommy Nutter made three of the suits worn by The Beatles on the cover of Abbey Road, as well as the suit that Mick Jagger wore to his …
BA returns to an earlier time
A minor story this one, but an important one. British Airways is bringing back a ‘tag line’ invented 90 years ago: “To fly. To serve”. The slogan remained on company uniforms even when advertising told us that BA was “The world’s favourite airline”. It is now being brought back as the core of a new …
Why are gold mines down?
The price of gold has risen by over 25% this year, yet mining stocks are in the doldrums. Why? “It is something everybody is thinking about at the moment”, says the manager of one of the largest gold funds. Prices of gold and mines have diverged in the past but the mining stocks have always …
How the eurozone crisis affects businesses
Two weeks ago Siemens withdrew over €500m from a ‘large French bank’, and deposited it with the European Central Bank. Partly this may be because the ECB is paying a higher interest rate (which surely means more risk?). But it seems more likely that Siemens fears there is a significant risk that the ‘large French …
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Copper price falls further
The price of copper has fallen to a 10-month low. The price of copper is seen as closely linked to industrial demand. The latest fall is seen as driven not by the current balance between supply and demand, by uncertainty about the growth outlook in Europe (eurozone crisis) and China (maintaining relatively high interest rates …
Reimagining the economy
In this talk Tim Jackson examines the current economic crisis and finds that the solution isn’t about “curtailing possibilities”: “It’s about opening up: about allowing ourselves the freedom to become fully human, recognising the breath and the depth of the human psyche, and building institutions to protect [that]. … And at the heart… a more credible, …
A return to manufacturing?
As the search continues for ways to end the recession, good ‘old-fashioned’ manufacturing seems to be having a resurgence. Business Secretary Vince Cable says Britain is “beginning to see” a shift towards manufacturing taking a greater share of output. (Of course that could mean that manufacturing is declining, but services are declining faster.) But in …
A return to gold as money
Central banks in Europe and emerging market countries have been buying more gold. Globally, central banks are “set to buy more gold this year than at any time since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, 40 years ago.” But, apparently, their purchases are “minuscule compared with the size of the global gold market” — …