Nuclear power makes up around a fifth of the UK's electricity generation currently. Renewables make up around 16 per cent but that does not mean the UK has already hit its 2020 promise to meet 15 per cent of its energy demand from renewables as the target is based on final energy consumption and on that basis, renewables contribute only around 4 per cent at present.
Retail recovery
The retail recovery could well be in full swing if ONS data is anything to go by. Last month, retail sales volumes rose by 2.2 per cent compared with September 2012 and by 0.6 per cent on the month before. This, says ONS, shows an underlying growth trend in the industry.
Quarter-on-quarter, the quantity of goods bought in the retail industry increased by 1.5 per cent, which marks the largest such rise since March 2008, when the economy was at its peak right before the economic downturn.
Looking at the different categories of growth, non-food and online saw volumes rise in September by 3.6 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively. Food and petrol stations, however, experienced volume declines of 0.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.
Spending by value also increased in September, by 3.2 per cent compared with last year and 0.5 per cent on August. Meanwhile, store price inflation continued to slow, with average prices increasing 0.9 per cent year-on-year compared with 1.6 per cent in August 2013.
Warning signs
UK quoted companies issued more profit warnings last month than in any other September since the height of the financial crisis in 2008, reports EY, formerly Ernst & Young. Overall, the accountant added up 56 during the third quarter, and, according to our findings, the fourth quarter has begun in much the same vein. And size, it seems, does matter. Aim companies were responsible for two-thirds of all warnings – a two-year high - while those by firms listed on the main market fell to their lowest in over three years. What happens next depends on how company earnings cope with a shift of emphasis from cost-cutting to the altogether less reliable catalyst of economic growth.
