The Times recently reported an innovative approach to a proposed new housing development in the prime commuter town of Beckenham in Kent. The land was previously occupied by a research & development centre for GlaxoSmithKline. Maybe Sandwich, another town in Kent, can look forward to something similar in a couple of year’s time when Pfizer completes the closure of its facility there.
Ryanair is one of the first big airlines to think about buying Russian or Chinese planes when its agreement to buy Boeing 737s comes to an end in two years time.
European banks are owed nearly $50 billion by Egyptian borrowers – about one-fifth of which came from British lenders. But the risk of default, even after the unrest began, was rated only half as likely as a default by Greece.
The January Markit/CIPS Construction Index showed a recovery of sorts in construction during January, but Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit said that, after adjusting for all the catching up there was to do after the bad weather in December “the underlying growth trend remains only very modest and well below the surging pace seen in the second quarter of last year. … house building [is] stagnating at best. Civil engineering has seen only very modest growth, leaving commercial activity as the only sector recording any noteworthy expansion, albeit well below that seen last spring.” So don't count on construction to keep the economy growing.
