Sunday, December 14, 2008

Mid-December crunchy bits

1 Stagecoach has no vacancies for bus drivers for the first time in years

2 One and a half million people visited Oxford Street & Regent Street on Saturday 6 December

3 Sales of home sewing machines have gone up 50% in John Lewis. Sales of haberdashery & dress fabrics are also up

4 Jamie Oliver is making Sainsbury’s cheese on toast this Christmas

5 Lawyers specialising in State aid are thriving

6 Ryanair carried 4.32 million passengers last month, a rise of 11%

7 Lobbyists are asking that restrictions on foreign ownership in American airlines should be lifted so that foreign investment can help the struggling industry


167,500 – current annual rate of house building in England
133,000 - the number of 3-bedroomed houses which could be built with the current stockpile of 1.2 billion unused bricks


9 Supermarkets are struggling to combat an outbreak of theft of expensive cuts of meat

10 The Spam factory in Austin, Minnesota has introduced double shift working 7 days a week to keep up with demand

11 London’s poshest builder has gone bust. These days there is just not the demand for high price projects such as building a special chute for quick access from the bedroom to the basement swimming pool

12 British expats in the Dordogne & the Riviera are feeling the pinch, especially if they have euro mortgages

12,000 British companies had credit insurance withdrawn last week. Euler Hermes, which has 36% of the global credit insurance market, have issued a profit warning

14 Sales In Asda stores show:


Curry ingredients up 40%, ready meals down 40%

Champagne up 100%

Hair dyes up 27% but 40% of customers are cutting back on hair
cuts