en-us Reuters UK) - General Motors GM will not cut more jobs at Opel in Germany if the German government refuses to give state aid although the U.S. carmaker said it remains confident that Berlin will soften its current stance."I am very optimistic that all our countries will come forward...]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:30:17 -0800 GMGMQ GMGMQ Reuters UK) - Mining giants BHP Billiton BHP and Rio Tinto RIO on Saturday signed a $116 billion (70.4 billion pounds) iron ore joint venture agreement to combine their Western Australian iron ore operations.The agreement brings together two of the world's three largest iron ore producers, and has upset...]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:00:22 -0800 Reuters UK) - Kraft Foods KFT posted its offer to Cadbury CBRY shareholders with terms unchanged on Friday, triggering a two-month takeover fight for the chocolate maker and a frosty response from Britain.As the battle got under way in earnest, a source close to...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:42 -0800 CSG HSY KFT CSG,HSY,KFT Reuters UK) - London-based hedge fund firm GLG Partners has hired Sir John Gieve, former Bank of England deputy governor, to give more insight into monetary policy and government plans to regulate the industry. New York-listed GLG, which runs $21.6 billion (13 billion pounds) in both hedge funds and...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:03:12 -0800 Reuters UK) - Crisis-struck private equity house Candover CDI ditched ambitious plans for its 2008 flagship fund, shutting off cash supply for further deals, and raising question marks over the firm's future.The move by one of private equity's leading names highlights buyout firms' fall from grace as...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:02:39 -0800 CDI CDI Reuters UK) - General Motors GM and disgruntled German workers at European arm Opel took a big step towards reconciling differences on Friday as GM scrapped plans to cut nearly 550 jobs at an engineering centre.Speaking to roughly 9,000 employees at Opel's Ruesselsheim headquarters, GM executive and interim...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:30:38 -0800 GMGMQ GMGMQ Reuters UK) - Construction output data for the third quarter has been revised up massively and could add 0.2 percentage points to the last published Q3 GDP estimate, the Office for National Statistics ONS said on Friday.The revision will push the Q3 GDP figure close to parity and will...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:15:56 -0800 Reuters UK) - Autumn selling boosted housebuilders Berkeley Group BKGH and Bellway BWY, but uncertainties such as a looming general election, unemployment and mortgage shortages are curbing enthusiasm."We've got a situation of imbalance at the moment. Until we get the feel-good factor and we see mortgages back,...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:15:47 -0800 BWY BWY Reuters UK) - New car sales in Britain leapt an annual 57.6 percent in November, their biggest rise this year as buyers took advantage of a government incentive scheme and a temporary cut in sales tax.The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the scrappage scheme accounted for more...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:15:25 -0800 Reuters UK) - Royal Dutch Shell dashed hopes that China's booming energy demand would offer vast opportunities for oil refiners, by withdrawing from a joint venture with Sinopec to build a plant in China.Shell signed a preliminary deal with Chinese state-controlled Sinopec, state-owned Kuwait Petroleum International and...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:45:29 -0800 Reuters UK) - Failing commercial property loans pose a growing threat to Britain's banking sector revival, after the sum of debts breaching covenants soared by 75 percent to 18.7 billion pounds in the first half of 2009, research shows.The UK Commercial Property Lending Market survey from De...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:01:07 -0800 Reuters UK) - Energy services company Amec AMEC will ramp up acquisitions under its new plan to more than double earnings per share by 2015 and continue improving margins.Chief executive Samir Brikho said Amec was targeting EPS of over 100 pence in 2015, compared with the 43.4...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:00:54 -0800 Reuters UK) - UK commercial real estate debt in default or in breach of lending agreements more than doubled to 30 billion pounds in the first half of the year, the Financial Times reported, citing a survey.The survey showed that 43 billion pounds of loans is due to mature this...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:45:19 -0800 Reuters UK) - Low-cost airline easyJet EZJ carried 12.2 percent more passengers in November year-on-year, boosting hopes that demand for budget air travel was recovering from the slump caused by the global recession.The airline carried 3.35 million passengers last month, up from the 2.98 million it flew in November...]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:30:27 -0800 Reuters UK) - The price tag for bailing out UK banks has hit 850 billion pounds but Britain's spending watchdog says the final cost to taxpayers will not be known for years.The independent National Audit Office NAO said Friday the government was justified in asking the public...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:00:18 -0800 Reuters UK) - Chancellor Alistair Darling will deliver a pre-budget report next Wednesday that defers tough new measures to cut Britain's budget deficit while increasing taxes on the wealthy and focussing resources on boosting the economy, the Financial Times reported on Friday."We don't anticipate any dramatic fiscal tightening," said...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:15:20 -0800 Reuters UK) - Royal Mail has agreed to sell its 20 percent stake in Camelot, the British national lottery operator, meaning that all shareholders now agree to the sale of the company, reported the Times on Friday.Fellow shareholders had been pressing Royal Mail to make the move, which simplifies...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:01:27 -0800 Reuters UK) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown moved to allay fears of a mass walk out by the board of Royal Bank of Scotland, saying it would not be singled out for unduly harsh treatment over bonuses.In a rare move by politicians to calm...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:15:44 -0800 Reuters UK) - Four British banks have a $5 billion (3 billion pounds) combined exposure to Dubai World, making them the biggest foreign creditor group at the Dubai state-owned conglomerate, the Financial Times said on Thursday.The report, citing bankers and advisers, said Royal Bank of Scotland RBS was the...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:15:55 -0800 STAN STAN Reuters UK) - The Bank of England said on Thursday it was consulting on changes to its asset purchase scheme that would allow it to sell, as well as buy, corporate bonds to improve secondary market liquidity.The Bank has been buying small amounts of corporate bonds since March as...]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:31:18 -0800