Tesco is the second largest retailer in South Korea and has seen much success in its expansion to Asian countries.
Global expansion seems to be going well for UK based companies. South Korea, India, and China are giving boosts to those trying to add to the bottom line. While many of the expansions create jobs in other countries, some create jobs locally to handle the expansions within main headquarters and with supplier companies. Tesco has seen a boost to its bottom line due to its expansions to Asian countires.
One of the most anticipated moments occurred last week when the announcement came that there was now an official engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton and a Royal Wedding would soon follow. Every news network in the world covered the topic. It is the first big Royal Engagement and Wedding in the internet era meaning the news was much more viral and big than even the news media could have made it alone. It comes at a time when good news is much needed and anticipated, giving Britain a happy event to look forward to in the near future. Better yet, the news comes during a time of austerity and a Royal Engagement and Royal Wedding will mean a big boost to the British economy, and some analysts say it could be above £700 million easily.
If business is good in England, then chances are it will be just as good in other countries if you believe in your service, product, or brand. Sainsbury is betting that their present success will cross over as they view opening stores in China and other countries. The attempt a decade ago to expand to the US and Egypt failed.
Yesterday the majority of students that arrived in London for a protest against rising university tuition fees followed a peaceful path. However, a minority number moved the focus away from the purpose of the protest to an eruption of unnecessary violence. Outside the Tory party headquarters the windows were broken and student protestors entered the building throwing items off the roof. They also lit fires in the street and threw missiles at police.
The British film industry breathed a sigh of relief with the announcement that Warner Brothers would be buying Britain’s Leavesden Studios. The acquisition safeguards approximately 1,500 jobs and will create another 300 with a planned expansion. This gives Warner Brothers the studio that was used to film the Harry Potter films, “The Dark Knight”, and the recent summer blockbuster “Inception”.
The number of people finding debt relief through insolvency has dropped. The Insolvency Service released data in their quarterly report showing that in England and Wales those officially declaring themselves insolvent have dropped 3.7%. These figures include those that have declared themselves bankrupt as well as those who have started a Debt Relief Order (DRO) or Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
Those who are looking for impartial advice when it comes to mortgage loans now have a new resource thanks to the consumer group Which?. With approval from the Financial Services Authority, the group has decided to launch a mortgage advice service for its members. The service will be free for those who subscribe to Which? Magazines as well as their friends and family.
In the attempt to secure a job many have to be retrained in a new trade or add their skills. An opportunity will be available to those seeking to enter the brewery trade when the company behind Tennant’s Lager opens up a pub academy in Scotland to train staff in the specialized hospitality industry. Tennent Caledonian Breweries has invested £1 million in the new training academy.
The BBC is still battling union members as it attempts to find ways to remedy a steep pension deficit. It is estimated that the shortfall totals £1.5 billion and the BBC executives want to put a cap on rises in pensionable pay at 1% after April. An agreement was reached with the union that represents camera crews and technicians, but it still is trying to come to terms with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
It usually pays to learn from one’s past mistakes and the Financial Service Authority (FSA) is trying to make sure that the mortgage lending market doesn’t make mistakes again and bring down the economy to its knees. The FSA is putting new controls in place with its mortgage market review that will prevent another financial crisis due to a collapse of the mortgage lending market by putting controls in place to make it difficult for lenders to make risky loans. The FSA hopes to limit risky lending and loans from going to those who are unable to afford them and will most likely end up defaulting on them.
Qatar Insurance Services recently acquired RI3K, (Reinsurance and Insurance for the 3rd Millennium), a London based privately held web-based insurance and reinsurance trading platform. The acquisition is expected to increase the reach of the existing Qatar Insurance Service’s Qatarlyst once the two businesses are fully integrated. It will bring forth a single platform for business with enhanced functionality and accessibility. The head business office will be located in Qatar.
US President Obama and the First Lady, Michelle Obama quickly departed after last week’s mid-term elections for a lengthy political trip which included India. After the President’s Democratic Party lost drastically in the election, Obama departed the US to seek business relationships in an effort to bring jobs to America. The trip, though an effort to help the US failing economy, has been criticized by citizens as too costly when the country is struggling. The First Couple has over 200 chief executives traveling with them and is one of his longest overseas trips as he also makes stops in Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan.
It takes thousands of fans to put a new release to the top of the charts. That is just what Facebook fans of the new digital download “2 Minute Silence” are trying to do in getting the single to top. It is a new release to raise charity funds for the Royal British Legion. What makes this release different is that it has no artist and there is no music or singing, it is as its title suggests, it is two minutes of silence.
The telecoms watchdog, Ofcom, reported the more than 1,100 customers had complaints against TalkTalk. The customers had been aggressively pursued to pay bills that did not exist. Ofcom has told the company to “clean up” its act or consequences would result.
It’s no secret that drivers dislike speed detecting cameras. Some even cry that privacy issues are at stake with the cameras. Now a new camera will allow an even stronger technology issued “smack of the hand” on more offences than speeding.
As television broadcasters stay up into the night reporting US election results, President Obama sleeps as his aids collect data to share with him in the morning hours how his Democratic Party faired in the mid-term elections. At the time of this report complete voting results were not in, but it was evident that the American people wanted a change and the President will awake to a much different US Government than he had when he went to sleep.
