Finance Roundup

Job success starts to go sour


Britain's nine-year stretch of shrinking unemployment could be about to end, analysts said yesterday, after government figures showed one measure of unemployment is rising.

Unemployment rose by 13,000 between May and July to 1.49m, on the Labour Force Survey count, which includes all those looking for work.

While the headline claimant count figure continued to fall last month, analysts said the rise in the LFS measure suggested that job cuts, particularly by technology and telecoms firms, could be starting to show.

"Today's report does appear to herald a turning point in the labour market," said Ciaran Barr of Deutsche Bank.

"With earnings growth subdued, the Bank [of England] should cut [interest rates] again soon, possibly at the next meeting, but there is a chance of an inter-meeting move in response to global concerns."

Ian Brinkley, chief economist at the TUC, added: "The rise in International Labour Organisation unemployment is a clear sign that the labour market is flattening.

"Together with global uncertainty over the world economy this makes a pressing case for a cut in interest rates next month."

The claimant count measure of unemployment fell by a larger than expected 6,000 last month to 945,600, its lowest level since October 1975.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit has now fallen by 111,000 over the past year and the current rate of 3.1% is the lowest level since August 1975.

Nick Brown, minister for work, said today's unemployment figures still showed that the labour market remained in a strong position, with historically high employment.
Charlotte Denny

Tech firms out of FTSE


One of the biggest shake-ups in Britain's corporate sector was confirmed yesterday when eight technology, media and telecoms companies were ejected from the FTSE 100.

Despite the turmoil in the markets following the US terrorist attacks, the compilers of the blue chip index decided at a meeting yesterday to stick with Tuesday night's closing prices for the reshuffle.

Out goes stricken telecoms group Marconi, along with other new economy stocks Energis, Spirent, Telewest, Colt Telecom, CMG, Misys and Carlton Communications.

Replacing them are a string of more traditional businesses - Enterprise Oil, building materials firm Wolseley, water company Severn Trent, British Land, broker Man Group, mortgage bank Northern Rock and power company Innogy.

Newly floated insurer Friends Provident also joins the top-flight index when the changes come into effect on September 24.

Carillion to axe 400


Carillion, the construction and services group, yesterday announced plans to streamline its regional construction business with the loss of 400 jobs.

The group had an exceptional charge of £10m in the second half following a fall in interim pretax profits from £12.6m before exceptional items to £9m.

Carillion, formerly Tarmac, said it had a record order book of £4.7bn, partly as a result of booming demand for private/public contracts.

The first-half dividend was raised 3% to 1.38p and chairman Sir Neville Simms said trading conditions looked "positive".
Terry Macalister

Budge tries to return


Richard Budge, ousted chief executive of the company he founded, RJB Mining - now UK Coal - wants to buy his way back into the sector by taking over a south Yorkshire pit.

Mr Budge, who has formed a company called CoalPower, emerged yesterday as preferred bidder for Hatfield colliery, near Doncaster, which went into liquidation last month.

The Coal Authority, which owns the underground coal reserves said to be enough for 20 years, said Mr Budge was chosen as his plan "offers the prospect of early implementation and minimises the burden on the public purse."

Hatfield employed more than 200 miners. It has been given a £200,000 lifeline in the past few weeks by the Department of Trade and Industry to keep it going while the liquidators sought a buyer.

The authority chose Mr Budge over two rivals. It said it would keep the mine open on a care and maintenance basis until October 5 to enable Mr Budge to buy the surface freehold and put the finances together.
David Gow

Railtrack fails again


John Robinson, Railtrack's chairman, yesterday admitted the company had so far failed to appoint the public interest director ordered by the government almost six months ago.

Mr Robinson is meeting the shortlist of candidates today, and hoped the appointment would be made by the end of the year. "It is the type of appointment with which I thoroughly agree."

Railtrack has paid £39m in compensation to National Express after the Hatfield rail crash and for "other outstanding costs", the bus and train operator said yesterday.

Its pretax profits jumped 20% from £50m to £60m, and chief executive Phil White backed the government's plan for two-year rail franchises.
Keith Harper

Celltech's German buy


Biotechnology firm Celltech is taking its first step into Germany through a DM 97m (£31m) deal to buy Thiemann, a drugs marketing firm with a sales force of 87.

Celltech announced the acquisition alongside a 171% rise in interim profits to £27.4m excluding goodwill, with all eyes on sales of once-a-day hyperactivity drug Metadate.

Celltech said Metadate had snatched a 4% share of the market in its first 14 weeks, which chief executive Peter Fellner said was "satisfactory, although we'd have preferred it to have been slightly higher".
Andrew Clark

Kingfisher loses out


Newly demerged retailer Kingfisher fell into a loss of £355m yesterday, dragged down by £526m of exceptional items relating to goodwill write-offs following the sale of Superdrug, and related to loss-making German electrical business ProMarkt.

Pretax profit from continuing operations before exceptionals and goodwill amortisation fell 11% to £182m, some £20m ahead of expectations in the six months to August.

Former sister company Woolworths reported a higher than expected loss of £54.4m for the same period, up from a £34m loss last time.

Over-stocking and the cost of new formats such as Big W are blamed, and chairman Gerald Corbett said "significant costs will be incurred" in addressing these problems.
Helen Slingsby

300 go at Lycos


Netherlands internet service provider Lycos Europe said yesterday it was cutting 300 jobs, almost a quarter of its workforce, in a restructuring aimed at improving profitability.

Lycos Europe said it was trying to reduce losses before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to €10m to €15m (£6m-£9m) in the April-June quarter in 2002, from losses of about €40m in the same quarter this year.

It added it would reduce its dependency on advertising revenues and generate more income from e-commerce.