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Ulster Bank yesterday said its bad debt provision had risen almost fourfold to £394m for last year, contributing to a 76% slump in operating profits. |
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Lord Myners, Gordon Brown’s minister for the city, personally agreed an £8m increase in the pension pot of Sir Fred Goodwin when the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland stood down last October, Sir Fred himself claimed last night. |
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The Government faced growing opposition last night to its plan to part-privatise the Royal Mail after saying it was the only “credible option” to save the postal group. |
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Homewares chain Dunelm yesterday said its value-for-money appeal helped it maintain steady profits as the credit crunch took hold. |
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Carphone Warehouse said yesterday that 450 head office and support centre jobs are “at risk” of redundancy. |
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Northern Ireland was given a major boost yesterday with the announcement of the creation of more than 600 jobs. |
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The Governor of the Bank of England said yesterday that Britain entered the financial crisis with “too high” public borrowing which hindered the Government’s response to the downturn. |
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The Government agreed yesterday to inject up to £25.5bn of extra capital into Royal Bank of Scotland as part of its plan to insure the stricken banking giant against future losses. |
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Trinity Mirror, the beleaguered media group which publishes the Daily Mirror and The People, has scrapped its final dividend after pre-tax losses of £73.5m in 2008. |
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The financial services sector suffered a fresh blow yesterday when insurance giant RSA announced plans to axe 1,200 jobs. |
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Northern Ireland was given a major boost today with the |announcement of the creation of more than 600 jobs . |
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Royal Bank of Scotland’s annual results — losses of £24bn for 2008 — have set a new low in business, marking the biggest loss in UK corporate history. |
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Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) grew exponentially in the boom years and crumbled just as fast in the wake of the financial crisis. |
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Royal Bank of Scotland intends to place £325bn in toxic assets in a taxpayer-backed protection scheme, the bank said today. |
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The Royal Bank of Scotland — owners of the Ulster Bank — today unveiled losses of £24bn for 2008 — the biggest in UK corporate history. |
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The Government will map out its plans to sell off part of the Royal Mail today, fuelling fresh controversy and increased anger from opponents, including a growing number of Labour MPs. |
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A permanent loss of key professional skills from the construction industry must be prevented to stop damage to the industry in the years ahead, it was warned today. |
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Finance Minister Nigel Dodds has urged more local firms to bid for government contracts as they look for ways to beat the recession. |
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Financial pledges made by the UK government over the settlement for Northern Ireland must be honoured, Gordon Brown has been told. |
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Ministers last night vowed to take steps to “claw back” some of the pension of failed Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin after it was disclosed that he is already drawing £650,000 a year. |
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Airports operator BAA today said profits had been dented by falling passenger numbers as soaring fuel prices and the economic downturn rocked the aviation sector. |
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Britain's economy shrank even more dramatically than previously thought in the second half of last year, official statistics are expected to reveal today. |
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Denby Pottery, the 200-year old manufacturer of premium tableware, has been sold to a management buy-out team in a £30m deal that will save hundreds of jobs. |
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Firms in Northern Ireland which are positioned for growth were today urged to avail of a new £66m all-island venture capital fund. |
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Calls have been made in the Assembly for support for homegrown businesses to be given precedence over “chasing the rainbow of foreign investment”. |
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TAXES will rise in the Republic and will be paid by all workers, including the low paid, Taoiseach Brian Cowen stressed at his party’s annual conference at the weekend. |
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Sir Fred Goodwin will not get his £650,000-plus pension even if he is legally entitled to it, Commons Leader Harriet Harman has vowed in the strongest Government attack yet on the former banking chief. |
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Interest rates are likely to be slashed again this week as the Bank of England embarks on a bid to revive the economy with newly-created money. |
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Interest rates are likely to be slashed again this week as the Bank of England embarks on a bid to revive the economy with newly-created money. |
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The Treasury Select Committee is visiting Stormont today as part of its inquiry into the banking crisis. |
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More than 140,000 manufacturing jobs will be lost this year in the wake of a “dramatic” downturn which is cutting deeper into British industry, a new report warns today. |
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Gourmet cheese maker Fivemiletown Creamery has landed a contract to supply its Ballyoak smoked brie to more than 250 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK. |
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The First Minister and Deputy First Minister will head to the United States later this month to bang the drum for local businesses, it was announced today. |
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Businesses in Northern Ireland were warned today that they have only until March 31 to claim rebates on up to 24 years’ worth of overpaid or under-claimed VAT. |
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Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie is this week to hold an on-line discussion with local business people as part of an initiative by the Institute of Directors to stimulate debate about combating the recession. |
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The plight of business owners who are being denied credit by the banks was highlighted at a public meeting of the Treasury Select committee in Belfast yesterday. |
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Despair gripped world markets last night, as shares plummeted on both sides of the Atlantic, dragging the Dow Jones industrial average to its first drop below 7,000 in more than 11 years and the FTSE 100 Index to a six-year low. |
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The Government needs to show "humility" over the problems which led to the financial crisis and economic recession, Chancellor Alistair Darling said tonight. |
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Paddy Power today announced a rise in profits but warned the Irish government's decision to double betting tax was already hitting the industry. |
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Gordon Brown will attempt to win the backing of the world's most powerful man today for his blueprint to rescue the global economy from the worst recession for half a century. |
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The pressure of an intensifying recession saw British companies and households launch an £8bn raid on their savings in January, according to the figures from the Bank of England. |
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Despair gripped world markets last night, as shares plummeted on both sides of the Atlantic, dragging the Dow Jones industrial average to its first drop below 7,000 in more than 11 years and the FTSE 100 Index to a six-year low. |
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The FTSE 100 index stemmed a further fall into the red today but blue-chip stocks remained near six-year lows in early trading. |
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Almost 300 food and drink products from around 25 companies in Northern Ireland were being showcased today at a trade exhibition in Glasgow. |
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Investors endured more stock market turmoil yesterday as the FTSE 100 Index tumbled to fresh six-year lows. |
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A union leader today attacked the management at ITV ahead of an expected announcement of cost-cutting plans including hundreds of job losses. |
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A boardroom shake-up was on the cards at housebuilder Redrow yesterday after its founder upped his stake and said he wanted a greater say in running the firm. |
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Northern Rock held 3,620 repossessed homes at the end of 2008 compared with 2,215 a year earlier, the group’s annual report showed. |
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Irish drinks giant, C&C Group, has sold its Northern Ireland wines and spirits business with the loss of three jobs. |
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Comber-based vegetable producer Sparky Pac said it was creating 15 jobs as a result of a £3.7m investment which is being backed by Invest NI. |
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Bank of Ireland bosses went to Stormont yesterday, and were urged not to turn off the flow of money to its customers in Northern Ireland. |
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Failed Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin doubled his multi-million pension pot in an “extraordinary” eleventh hour deal with senior bank directors, MPs were told yesterday. |
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Broadcaster ITV today announced it was axing 600 jobs and making other "significant" savings aimed at cutting costs. |
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ITV bosses today moved to allay fears that popular shows like Coronation Street and X Factor are under threat amid a massive jobs cull at the company. |
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Broadcaster ITV said today it would sell its social networking website Friends Reunited as the firm looks to cut costs and raise revenues. |
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Employers are dealing with the recession by ditching older and more expensive workers for younger replacements on much lower wages, according to the latest expert report on the jobs market. |
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The financial and consultancy firm KPMG has confirmed plans to lay off 200 of its workers. |
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Ulster Bank has announced funding options aimed at helping small and medium enterprises during the economic downturn. |
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Up to 200 jobs are being axed at leading business consultancy and auditing firm KPMG, it emerged today. |
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The chairman of Ireland's largest mortgage lender Irish Life and Permanent today apologised for giving controversial multi-billion euro loans to scandal-struck Anglo Irish Bank. |
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Construction giant Carillion yesterday defied a worsening economic climate with a booming order book and 55% hike in annual profits. |
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Tesco's expansion plans in the UK received a major boost yesterday when it won its appeal against a competition test designed to slow its growth, but its victory may be short-lived after the Competition Commission hinted it was determined to see a revised proposal come to fruition. |
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Accounting firm KPMG is to axe 20 jobs at its Belfast office and impose pay cuts for remaining staff, it has been revealed. |
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The chairman of Ireland’s largest mortgage lender Irish Life and Permanent has apologised for giving controversial multi-billion euro loans to scandal-struck Anglo Irish Bank. |
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Garfunkel's operator The Restaurant Group yesterday said 2009 had started “reasonably well” after like-for-like sales fell 2.5% on last year. |
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Sainsbury’s yesterday said it was buying 24 stores from The Co-operative Group in a deal worth £83m. |
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Northern Ireland should emerge from recession towards the end of the next year, a new report reveals today. |
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The credit crunch has triggered property price falls in nearly every housing market across the world, with the UK seeing some of the steepest drops, research showed today. |
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So many surveyors have been hit by the crash of the property and construction markets that they are being offered advice on how to cope with redundancy, it was revealed today. |
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Northern Ireland should emerge from recession towards the end of the next year, a new report reveals today. |
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The Bank of England today embarked on a policy of so-called "quantitative easing" (QE) to ease conditions in credit markets. |
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The Bank of England slashed interest rates to another record low of 0.5% today and launched an economic salvage bid with billions in newly-created money. |
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Savers were bracing themselves today for further falls in the returns they earn on deposit accounts as interest rates fell to a new record low. |
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The Bank of England has made a leap in the dark and is gambling its latest interest rate cut and the injection of £75 billion in new money into the economy will kick-start lending and spending, a senior economist said today. |
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Finance Ministers from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will meet next week, with proposed cuts to the budgets allocated from Whitehall high on the agenda. |
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Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have set up a “team of all the talents” to help tackle the deepening economic crisis. |
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Some 15,000 fewer new cars hit the road in February compared with the year before as recession continues to buffet the automotive sector. |
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Stormont Ministers were today told to make job creation and cushioning families from the deepening economic crisis their chief aim. |
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Northern Ireland’s banks have been accused of fleecing farmers by putting up interest rates on their overdrafts despite the plunge in the base rate to an all-time low. |
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Corporation tax would be cut for companies as part of a Tory drive to tackle Britain's debt crisis, the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, has signalled. |
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A silent $1 trillion "Run on Britain" by foreign investors was revealed yesterday in the latest statistical releases from the Bank of England. |
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The British Treasury has confirmed plans to insure more than £250bn of toxic assets held by the Lloyds Banking Group. |
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Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary yesterday conceded that his decision to spend €390m of shareholders' money on a stake in Aer Lingus was "stupid". |
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One of the biggest Wall Street banks has warned investors not to bet on Ireland defaulting on its debt, as its financial position remains "remarkably strong" despite the banking crisis and economic downturn. |
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A young County Down chef who has just got a job at one of Gordon Ramsay’s top restaurants has encouraged other aspiring cooks to pursue a career in the industry. |
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Plans were unveiled today for a £5m hotel and restaurant complex in the Carryduff area, which will create up to 60 jobs. |
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A Fermanagh company has announced a multi-million pound investment which will create eight new jobs. |
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A 1,000-seat hi-tech cinema is to open in Downpatrick in early summer, bringing movies back to the town for the first time in decades. |
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Sir Richard Branson today signalled his intention to turn Virgin into a high street bank within the next two years. |
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Shares in broadband provider Tiscali were suspended today after a sale of its UK business to BSkyB collapsed. |
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A computer software company has announced plans to create 30 jobs in Belfast. |
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Belfast logistics company TR Group has expanded its European operations following the completion of a major acquisition in the Netherlands. |
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Bovis Homes yesterday reported a £78.7m pre-tax loss for 2008 after revenues slumped 49% and it wrote down the value of its assets. |
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A Co Down company has announced plans to invest £1m in upgrading capacity at its manufacturing plant in Dromore. |
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Tyrone Brick is to axe 62 jobs — 95% of the production workforce — following the major downturn in the construction industry. |
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Bank shares were under the spotlight once more yesterday as investors in Lloyds Banking Group endured a rollercoaster ride. |
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Northern Ireland house sales rose last month, property experts claimed today. |
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Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Minister today called off their trade mission to America a second time following the Craigavon killing. |
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AER Lingus today posted a pre-tax loss of €119.7m (£110m) for last year and warned that bigger losses were on the cards for this year. |
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Northern Ireland’s hotel sector is starting to feel the pinch, according to business advisors PricewaterhouseCoopers. |
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Northern Ireland's manufacturing sector is holding its own at present and has not yet gone into recession, according to a new economic report published today. |
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Car giant Toyota today announced cuts in production and pay at its two UK factories in another sign of the crisis facing the motor industry. |
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Newspaper group Johnston Press today warned of further job losses on top of a 15% cut in workforce last year as advertising revenues worsen. |
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Bombardier Shorts has welcomed news that Lufthansa has signed up as the launch customer for its new C-Series aircraft. |
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The Government has rejected growing calls for it to pay subsidies to firms to encourage them to put workers on short-time or lay them off temporarily, instead of sacking them. |
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The Bank of England has begun pumping £75bn in newly-created money into the ailing economy by buying £2bn in Government bonds. |
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The world’s richest people have failed to escape the ravages of recession with billionaires seeing their wealth shrink by almost a quarter in the last year, business magazine Forbes said today. |
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A new five star hotel has opened in Belfast this week opened its doors to the public. |
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Supermarket chain Morrisons yesterday thanked its “broadening customer appeal” for a 7% hike in full-year pre-tax profits to £655m. |
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The number of mortgages advanced to people buying a home slumped to a new record low in January, figures showed yesterday. |
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Silicon Valley technology experts are to hold a conference in Belfast as part of a plan to boost job prospects in the industry. |
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The chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) warned the City yesterday to be “very frightened” of its tougher stance and said the watchdog was looking at whether action could be taken against former top managers of failed banks. |
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Shares in UTV Media rallied yesterday following the publication of the group’s latest results. |
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Treasury plans to cut back on public spending in Northern Ireland are unfair and unacceptable, Stormont’s Finance Minister said last night. |
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The Independent News and Media chief executive Anthony O'Reilly is standing down, it was announced today. |
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David Cameron has apologised for his failure to spot that Britain was lurching into an economic crisis. |
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Much of the new money the Bank of England has "printed" to stimulate the UK economy is ending up abroad where it will be of no benefit to UK households and businesses, according to an analysis of the Bank's "quantitative easing" programme. |
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Gordon Brown insisted today he was confident of agreeing a recession-fighting package at next month's G20 - despite signs that he may struggle to get all countries to sign up to the prospect of further fiscal stimulus measures. |
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In the first major announcement of his and Peter Robinson’s search for fresh American investment, Martin McGuinness will today join the Empire State’s top financial officer in the Big Apple to unveil details of major New York State pension fund injection into Northern Ireland. |
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Unemployment is set to surge past the politically sensitive two million mark this week and is expected to continue increasing all year, with some analysts predicting it will reach 3.3m before the jobs market recovers from the recession. |
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Construction work on Shorts’ new factory will commence within the next few months, the company has revealed. |
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Former rugby international Tyrone Howe has given some tips for success to the team captains contesting this year’s Northern Bank Schools’ Cup final. |
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Bonuses were paid to one in four of private sector workers in Northern Ireland last year — despite their companies making a loss, a new survey revealed today. |
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Belfast software company Latens is to establish a research and development centre in India in a bid to expand its global presence and product development capabilities. |
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Recruitment firm Abacus Professional is aiming to increase its export business after cashing in on Invest NI’s new innovation voucher initiative. |
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A US pension fund was today set to reveal plans to offer a huge multi-million investment pot for Northern Ireland — defying the dissident republican murderers attempting to destabilise the province. |
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The wife of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff faces having millions of dollars of assets in her own name seized, it emerged today. |
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The unemployment rate in Northern Ireland has risen from 4.3% to 5.7% quarter on quarter, according to data published by the Government today. |
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There was little St Patrick’s day cheer at FG Wilson yesterday, as it emerged that another 50 jobs are to go at the Larne-based manufacturer. |
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The recession will be longer lasting in the UK than in any other major economy, according to forecasts released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). |
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Newry firm FM Environmental has won new business in Malaysia for its Grease Guardian grease removal systems, as a result of its participation an Invest NI trade mission. |
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The private sector is keen to work more closely with government north and south to confront the infrastructure challenges facing Northern Ireland and the Republic, according to a new survey. |
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Belfast's economy was today branded vulnerable because of its reliance on public sectors jobs. |
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The City watchdog has consigned “soft-touch” banking regulation to the history books as it set out plans for a more intrusive approach. |
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Belfast audio technology company APT has sold its broadcast hardware division to French firm Audemat group in a multi-million euro deal. |
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Most company directors believe public sector pensions are set at an "unfairly high" level compared with private firms, according to a new report today. |
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A failure by the G20 summit on April 2 to tackle the global recession will lead to an even more prolonged downturn, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday, as it slashed its forecasts for growth. |
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The US House of Representatives last night passed punitive tax measures which would strip AIG executives and other Wall Street high earners of 90% of their bonuses. |
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Northern Rock was allowed to lend £800m in high-risk mortgages for six months after being placed on life-support with billions from the taxpayer, the UK's public spending watchdog said today. |
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Schemes to help people start a business and to aid existing businesses to expand were launched today by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster. |
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Translink is facing up to 75 job losses in a cost-cutting plan. |
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The funeral of one of the soldiers killed outside their barracks in Antrim is taking place in London today. |
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The Belfast Telegraph’s website last night scooped the top gong at a major awards ceremony. |
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The Belfast Telegraph’s website last night scooped the top gong at a major awards ceremony. |
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The Livestock and Meat Commission today launched Beef Week, aiming to raise awareness of the quality of Northern Ireland beef. |
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More than 50 jobs have been saved after a Northern Ireland off-licence and pub group was bought out of administration, it was disclosed today. |
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Despite tough times the local business sector must be ready to take advantage of better conditions when the economic crisis eventually passes. |
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Blue chip firm Ulster Carpets has become the first textile manufacturer in Northern Ireland to achieve the environmental Carbon Trust Standard. |
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Media group Daily Mail and General Trust today said it would cut around 1,000 jobs at its Northcliffe regional arm this year — double the number estimated last November. |
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Belfast is among 29 locations across the UK to be given access to super-fast broadband on the BT network next year, it was announced today. |
