BUSINESS

The Bank of England has kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5% for the 13th consecutive month.

Shares in Home Retail fell over four per cent on the FTSE 100 after the group announced a fall in sales of both its Argos and Homebase stores in the first quarter.

Shares in Halfords were up over three per cent this morning on the FTSE 250 after a set of full year results that exceeded expectations.

Halfords, the car parts and bike retailer is set to deliver a strong rise in profits tomorrow at the top end of company guidance of £114 to £116 million as it announces preliminary results for the full-year.

Home Retail Group, owners of Homebase and Argos are planning an interim management statement with retail sales in May supposedly up due to the warm sunny weather and approaching World Cup.

RBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland has lined up three bidders for Worldpay and expects to sell more businesses and branches later this year.

UK's trade deficit has widened again as imports rose slightly ahead of exports by 0.1 billion.

The economic recovery is likely to be short on new jobs as the new coalition gets stuck into the task of cutting Britain’s debt, racked up by increased spending and borrowing under the previous Labour government.

Intelek, the electronics satelite and microwaves communication specialist, posted today a full year result down.

ASOS, the online fashion retailer has posted strong '09 results ahead of forecasts as the Danish supplier, Bestseller, builds up a stake in the company - and margins improve.

When The Bank of England's (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee meets later this week, they are certain to maintain the same low benchmark rate of 0.5% that they've had since March 2009.

WH Smith, the newsagents and bookseller said it was confident of meeting full year guidance on profits as it announced fourteen week sales for 28 February 2010 to 5 June 2010.

Northern Rock has said it is planning to cut 650 jobs by the end of the year as it continues with its restructuring programme.

The British Retail Consortium, which publishes its figures today say that May was a 'good' month for sales, with clothing and DIY helping total sales to rise 3 pct amongst its retailers.

Shares in engineering firm Renold dived over seven per cent after the company swung into heavy losses in the full year ended 31 March 2010.

Sir Philip Clarke who started working for Tesco's as a schoolboy, was announced today as its new CEO from March next year.

Perusing the much respected Airline of the Year awards given by air transport research company and occasional government consultants Skytrax over the last decade, I'm slightly at a loss. Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Asiana (20 May 2010) even British Airways (2006), but not the airline Mr Michael O'Leary claims is the "world's favourite", Ryanair. Surely an omission and not simply hyperbole on Mr O'Leary's part as the Skytrax Airline of the Year Award is known the w...

"You've failed" was the message angry Prudential shareholders gave to Prudential management as underlying costs of the failed bid for AIA came to light today.

Manufacturing seems to have been on the up in the second quarter of the year, according to a survey published by manufacturer's organisation EEF and BDO LLP.

The UK faces double strike action as Unite the Union and CWU continue to persevere with their plans that could cripple both the nation's biggest telecoms provider and national airline if prolonged.

House prices fall for a second consecutive month as Halifax reports their latest Price Index.

Shares in fashion retailer Laura Ashley rose nearly seven per cent today after the company reported strong sales in the 17 weeks to 29 May.

BP has announced today that oil and gas is being recieved through its latest attempts to cap the oil leak - known as the Lower Marine Riser Package.

Synergy Health which provides a range of outsourced services to the NHS delivered a rise in EPS ahead of expectation yesterday.

New car registrations increased 13.5 per cent last month, according to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The rise is the eleventh monthly increase in a row.

Shares in Hornby were soaring over seven per cent this morning after the company said it would be resuming dividends thanks to rising sales momentum in the year ended 31 March.

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, today unveils its support for technology that will minimise future disruption after the Icelandic Eyjafjalla volcano shut down large swarthes of airspace.

Intermediate Capital Group are rising on the FTSE following their full year results after capital gains came in higher than predicted.

Private investors are flocking to BP according to TD Waterhouse as shares in the company have plummeted with buys now outnumbering sells four to one.