Airbus/Aer Lingus order

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6727493.stm

The struggling company Airbus has recieved an order for 12 of the new A350s. The company who's proposed flagship the A380 has been having problems on comstruction and this order will have certainly increased moral and the financial postion of a company who since the first view of the super jumbo has recieved nothing more than bad news.

They do need to work on getting the construction of their planes back on track as they cannot compete with other major companies, due to their majo losses on the construction of their aircraft.

Universal take over of BMG

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6680573.stm

This story is farily old but I found it interesting.

Universals take over bid for BMG ha been given the go ahead by EU. The now super companies moved will have benefitted them greatly. They now own a massive part of the music publishing market and they will be able to push other companies out of business if they use their advantagge to the best of their aility.

new itunes competitor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6662439.stm
Amazon have announced they are to bring out a new mp3 online music store, that sells music compatible to any music player. This could prove to be a serious competitor to itunes as Amazon will be at a similar price and all its music will be DRM free.
The itunes store is currently adding music which is available for ipods and for other players (at a slightly higher pricce to the ipod versions), but much of it's music is still to be offered with this.
Amazon will also have a huge advantage of having huge numbers of record labels from the beginning, giving them a large base of traacks to start up on.

New technology, new coal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6655043.stm

New technology is being developed has been heralded as the thing to get us out of our carbon emissions problem. Coal, which is our main source of energy, is the fuel that this can be used for. Lthough this does not sort ou the problem of diminishing supplies of coal and other fossil fuels this will be very good in the worlds fight against carbon emissions. This will be especially good if China uses the technology because of the statistic that a new coal fireed power station is made everyday and the amount of resources it is the subcontinent is using.

BAE buying US armour company

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6632613.stm

BAE has put in a $4.5bn takeoveer offer for an American military vehicle and armour company. This is a good oportunity for BAE to increase its powers in this sector and increase its foothold in america with hopefully some more American defense contracts to follow. They would also become a more respected company as they would have a big part in the American contracts and would be respected for that.

Toyota the largest carmaker in the world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6586679.stm

Toyota has been declared the worlds largest car company. Under GM the company has grown leaps and bounds and I'm not supprised with it's great progress.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6586579.stm Toyota's rival, Nissan, is due to cut 1500 jobs in Japan, (where the company is based) during shrinking sales in the homeland. This is probably a good move by toyota as they will be able to get even cheaper production in nearby korea and china, although they may loose more sales and support from japan due to loss of jobs.

New BMW assembly plant

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6505987.stm

BMWs new assemblly plant could be a great opportunity for them as they will save money through building the cars in a counrty with such cheap labour. Compared to factories in the UK they will be able to get a better price for their vehicles that are made there giving them a better competitiveness against their main rivals audi and mercedes.

The only problem this may cause is the extra import costs for the long journey and expensive insurance.

Overall I think this is a good advance by BMW as it will increase employement and have a good affect on BMWs prices/profits

Jaguar site is sold

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/6501871.stm

Jaguar has sold one of it's sites to an australian developer loosing 1500 jobs. It will keep some of the original facility keeping 400 people employed under them in the area. This is bad in the short term for the local area as many people will be put out of work. However, once the new company has established itself in the area many of the workers will be able to get work at the ld site.

google court case

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6474183.stm

A court case against Googles popularity rating model was thrown out of court after KinderStarts, complaint that google damged its business by excluding it from googles ranking system. This has just been time wasted for goole who are still reeling from courtcases over the legality of some of the videos on youtube which google owns

Morrisons rebranding

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6452803.stm

Morrisions are planning a rebrand after rise of 277m pounds in pretax profits last year.

This could be a good chance for an improving company to become a massive market player. Already the 4th largest supermarket company has a lot to gain if they get this rebranding right. If not they will fail

Aston officially british

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6442101.stm

After a mamouth contest for the famous car manufacturers, Aston Martin are finally back in the hands of the British. This is a good thing for britain as the $439m purchase will now bring back an important part of our indusrial heritage and the fact that we now have a car company that is not owned by Ford. As I have stated before this is bad for Ford as Aston was one of the few parts making any money.

Aston Martin buy out race

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6428999.stm

After a frankly stupid decision by ford to sell Aston Martin, bidders have been falling over backwards for a chance at buying the luxury sports company. I think this is a good opporunity for Aston as they will be able to do more things without the constraintss of the debts of Ford, and will be a sad loss for Ford as it is one of the few parts of the super manufacturer that is making any money.

Ford $11bn revamp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6406887.stm

The announced $11bn revamp by Ford is planned at taking this failing car company back into profit. The giant which owns Aston Martin, Jaguar,Land Rover/Range Rover, and mazda among others, reported a loss of $12.7bn, and is pplanning on cutting 51,000 jobs worldwide. As part of this it has put Aston Martin on sale which I find a Suprise as it was one of the few parts of the company that waas making any money. Having said that Jaguar is looking promising with its new range of cars coming out from the luxury s type to the ridiculously fast XKRR. This sets to go into profit sooner than the rest of Ford. I think Ford needs to rethink its approach and sell all the companies it owns which are really loosing money, and then it will still be a force to be reckoned with instead of dying completely.

Fair trade deal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6400433.stm

Fairtrade, the probably most recognised trader with African nations, is after a 50 million pound investment. This large sum of money is equivalent to 1/6 of the money consumers spend on their products a year and could be a huge boost to a very popular and successful company. The raised awarness of 3rd world farmers and their low wages, and this has helped both them and Fair trade. A company I would be investing in if I could.

Airbus job cuts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6402859.stm

Airbus is now going to face major job cuts of 1,500 in the UK and another 8,000 over France and Germany. This is another blow to a struggling company which is having serious problems trying to make their flagship aircraft the A380 which was released last year. They seriously need to re evaluate how their business is running because they are loosing massive amounts of money trying to produce these aircraft and this is what is causing the job cuts and slow production

Toyota US factory plans

Toyota are planning to build a new car manufacturing plant in Mississippi after a boost of its US sales by 13%. This is a good move by a very promissing car company to begin to get a hold in the slippery American car sector. If they can continue their good progress the americans could end up loosing their big fords and chryslars as a stereotype. This will also provide great employment helping the unemployment levels in the state. This is also a great opporunity for Toyota as they are the first non american owned car company to start doing well in the states.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6399691.stm

Another downer on BP

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6333959.stm

BP's has fallen into the proverbial litter tray of profit loss by losing 12% of it's income after an increase in health and safety and delcining price of oil. The higher spending on safety was after serious problems with their operating standards came under scrutiny after an explosion of a Texas refinery. For more infoemation on these see: http://jazzmanbuisness.blogspot.com/2007/01/bp-safety-procedures-criticised.html

If I was part of BP I wouldn't be worried for another few years there profits are still hovering around $4bn over 3 months mark and prices should be set to rise again soon as oil and gas runs out. Of course there will be a balance where the price and amount of oil being sold will equal each other out until people just can't afford it all and that is when BP will hit the fat.

They should be concentrating on moving into other sectors because if if they put all their eggs in one basket filled with unrenewable resources they will be screwed financially and as a business.

Longbridge car factory to reopen

The new owners of MG have said that the old longbridge car manufacturing plant is to re-open. This is great news for the ex-workers in the area and will bring good economic growth back to the area. The closure of the plant brought great uproar and although the reopening of the plant will ease tensions, relations will still be soar with the company.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6312917.stm

heathrow ovner BAA under pressure

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6234265.stm

Heathrows owner has come under significant pressure after first its security measures handling the august bomb alert then fog problems causing serious delays over the christmas period. The now foreignly owned BAA is under great pressure to clear up it's proceadures to cope with unusual circumstances. They could loose contracts to run britains main airports if they don't clear up their act soon, and I think they have got a long way to go to have good proceadures for unforseen events.

ipod sales rise

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6272051.stm

After the preview of their most recent venture, the iphone (for more info see jonny's blog http://jonnygreen.blogspot.com/2007/01/iphone-finally-released-by-apple.html, or the riveiera business forum at http://revisionguru.co.uk/rivieraforum/index.php?s=5310e18b54f071d233a245530d5ee1da&showtopic=249&hl ) apple are reporting a massive increase in sales leading up to the 30th of december. This could be partially to do with the enormous potentail as good christmas presents and people getting into new music for the festive period (ipod don't just earn money off the players, but itunes as well.) This is fantastic news because no really new items have been released, just some of the models have been re designed and this shows the brilliant position ipod are in as a fashion item company as well as good quality electrical product company.

BBC license fee rise

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6273347.stm

The new license fee rise that the BBC are proposing will and is bringing the publlic in uproar, especially the elderly. The rise from131.50 to 151 pounds by 2012 will put pensioners in a difficult position due to pensions earning small amounts of money. This will loose money for the BBC now because people on low incomes (pensioners and students especially) won't be able to pay and for people like students who are very busy anyway it is not worth the money.

UK inflation at a highest levels for over a decade

The rise of inflation to 3% has put the Bank of England in the spotlight again and there is the risk that they will raise the the intrest rates again.
This marks the 8th month in a row that the Bank of England has been unable to keep to the gouvernments 2% target rate. The chances are that intrest rates are going to rise again and I think that many people are going to be worried about loan and morgage intrest rates rising and that they are going to struggle to pay off the debts. In a way this could be a good thing because people will really think about whether they will take out loans, but people are going to loose even more money on the loans they already have.

BP safety procedures criticised

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6265535.stm
After some very serious accidents including the fatal 2005 explosion at BPs Texas plant, the Financial times published a report pointing out some major flaws in their safety procedures. I think BP just need to accept this and shouldn't fight it because they'll just be considered ignorant and selfish as well as stupid if they do. They should just ask forgiveness for the ignorance they showed and that they will never do that again.
I would have thought that BP wouldn't deliberately be letting safety slack because they would loose money on repairs, compensation, extra costs for insurance and loosing moeny on that facility not working while repairs are carried out.

Wii problems

http://revisionguru.co.uk/rivieraforum/index.php?s=c8ee2312e293e63d5cb639cefcc17280&showtopic=233&hl=

The Wii consoles that is Nintendos replacement for the game cube are not reaching suppliers.

This is bad for Nintendo as this console is the only major console that uses motion sensers to play. This could lead to poor populaarity and Nintendo's reputation going down. I think they need to speed up there delivering and manufacturing speed or customers will get very angry and possibly turn to other consoles like the xbox 360 and soon the long awaited PS3.

GM going green as it did as at the sight of its debts last year

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6240379.stm

While one american car company complains about us going green, GM goes into alternative fuels. The first out of blocks GM is the first major car company to propose this positive making of cars. Even the boss of Ford says that America is loosing its gas guzzler credentials.

This is good that the biggest car companies is now doing a major push environmentally friendly cars. It will encourage Ford and other rivals to do the same and try and compete. Hopefully pushing out the worst of the gas guzzlers and cleaning our air.