Over the years, all sorts of unorthodox predictors have emerged to signal that a company is in financial trouble.

A fish tank in the reception was long held by some accountants to be a harbinger of bad news.

More recently, any corporate links to the business body the CBI could foretell trouble ahead.

If a company chairman was appointed president of the CBI, the fear was his own business could soon be on course for the rocks.

Take Rentokil, a stock market darling until its boss Sir Clive Thompson took the helm at the CBI in 1998.

Crunch-prone clubs?

But has the credit crunch produced the best new indicator yet – the tell-tale football shirt sponsorship deal?

Just consider the evidence. When Manchester United signed up with AIG two years ago, could the Old Trafford side have foreseen that the US insurance giant would soon be teetering on the edge of financial oblivion?

An outcome which can only tarnish the image of the Red Devils, by association.

There are uncanny parallels elsewhere. Newcastle United is inexorably linked with the biggest banking failure Britain has seen in 150 years, Northern Rock.

Failed bank Northern Rock sponsors Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United

The bank’s name is still proudly displayed on the black-and-white striped shirts of the Toon Army – given the parlous state of the both the club and sponsor the link seems strangely apt.

West Ham are now sponsor-less, having hitched their wagon to XL Travel, which crashed in spectacular fashion last week stranding thousands of tourists abroad.

The Upton Park side has now ditched the XL name, presumably it does not want to be associated with a company which has bought misery to thousands.

Although some Hammers fans may think their sponsor’s legacy corresponds to some of their team’s more woeful performances.

Added together, it suggests that a number of England’s leading clubs have become little walking adverts for credit crunch casualties.

Unluckiest club

And tracing back through the records, the trend has been around for some time.

Manchester City must have rued its links with the insurance company First Advice, part of the ill-fated Accident Group which collapsed in 2002, and sacked all its staff by text.

And the implosion of MG Rover brought a premature end to its links with Aston Villa in 2004.

But the club that seems to have the least luck with sponsors is Charlton Athletic. During its premiership days, the south London side teamed up with Allsports, the sports good retailer which crashed into administration in 2005.

Charlton bounced back signing up Llanera, a property firm specialising in the Spanish market. But that deal blew up last autumn when Llanera collapsed owing £500 million, ironically because it failed to reach agreement on re-financing with a number of banks including Lehman Brothers.

Given the failure of analysts to predict many recent corporate casualties, some might think they would do worse than closely monitor the activities of those firms that sponsor football clubs.

After all, who knows where “the curse of the shirt” will strike next?

News reported by The BBC

A group of 100 businesses is calling for a third runway to be built at Heathrow airport “within strict environmental standards”.

Among those backing the project are the British Chambers of Commerce, Hilton Hotels and Severn Trent PLC.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the UK needed “good, direct access to the global economic powerhouses such as China and India”.

Green groups say a new runway will lead to environmental damage.

Competition

In the statement published in the Financial Times, the businesses say: “Heathrow Airport is vital for business.

“It offers the direct connections which make our companies globally successful, and which will be all the more important as India and China grow.

“That’s been recognised by our European competitors. Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt airports will each have at least four runways by 2012.

“A third runway, built and operated within the strict environmental limits set by government, will ensure that Heathrow is able to provide the quality services that business and other travellers need” Richard Lambert CBI

“And that’s why Heathrow needs a third runway built within strict environmental standards.

“Britain is at the heart of the global economy. Let’s make the right decisions to keep us successful.”

Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, said: “Heathrow provides direct flights to a wide variety of destinations.

“But the airport is full. And routes are vulnerable if Heathrow cannot maintain its hub status.

“A third runway, built and operated within the strict environmental limits set by government, will ensure that Heathrow is able to provide the quality services that business and other travellers need.”

Campaigners opposed to the planned expansion say it would have a serious impact on hundreds of thousands of homes in the area, as well as making it harder for Britain to cut its CO2 emissions.

‘Clogged space’

Campaign group Hacan ClearSkies said a third runway was not the way to boost the UK’s business links.

Chairman John Stewart said: “I would agree for the need for access to developing economies of the India and China but you don’t need expansion for that.

“It is the short-haul flights that are clogging up Heathrow, so if you limit the number of slots for those flights then that would free up space for longer-haul flights, and lead to better links.”

Business lobby group London First said in June that the priority for Heathrow should be to improve the existing airport before a decision to expand was taken.

A government decision on whether to go ahead with a third runway is expected later this year.

News reported by The BBC

The CBI has become the latest organisation to predict that the UK will fall into recession this year.

The business group estimates that the economy will shrink by 0.2% between July and September, and then by a future 0.1% from October to December.

Its report follows similar warnings from the European Commission and the British Chambers of Commerce.

An economy is generally considered to be in recession after two successive quarters of declining output.

‘Twin impacts’

Although the CBI predicts two quarters of downturn, it adds that it will be a “shallow recession”, and not a return to the prolonged economic woes of the early 1990s.

“The UK may have entered a mild recession that will hopefully prove short lived” CBI director general Richard Lambert

For 2009, the CBI predicts the UK economy will grow at a “feeble” rate of 0.3% – the worst performance since 1992.

CBI director general Richard Lambert blamed the likely recession on the sharp rise in energy and food costs this year, and the downturn in the housing market, both of which had knocked consumer sentiment.

“Over the past year our forecasts for economic growth have been shaved lower and lower as the UK economy continues to struggle with the twin impact of higher energy and commodity prices and the credit crunch,” he said.

“Having experienced a rapid loss of momentum in the economy over the first half of 2008, the UK may have entered a mild recession that will hopefully prove short lived.”

‘Falling inflation’

The CBI added that while inflation – as measured by the government’s preferred consumer price index – should hit a peak of 4.8% this quarter – it expects it to fall back “quite rapidly” over 2009 as energy and other commodity prices decline.

This will give the Bank of England the breathing space to start cutting interest rates, says the CBI, which predicts that rates will fall from the current 5% to 4% by next spring.

“As inflation falls, we should be well placed to move beyond this difficult stage in the business cycle,” added Mr Lambert.

The latest official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK economy failed to grow between April and June.

The ONS has also said that UK manufacturing output fell in July for a fifth straight month.

News reported by The BBC

A report on UK retail sales has posted its worst monthly reading since it was first compiled 25 years ago.

A balance of 46% of retailers reported a fall in sales in the first half of August compared with a year earlier, said the CBI business organisation.

This was the second month in a row that the CBI’s distributive trade survey had posted a record low.

With only supermarkets reporting a rise in sales, the CBI said it had been a “summer to forget” on the High Street.

Higher bills impact

The CBI said higher bills and this summer’s bad weather had deterred spending.

“This has been a summer that many retailers would rather forget,” said Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI distributive trades panel and Asda director.

“The downturn in the housing market is continuing to depress sales for those shops selling big-ticket items.”

The CBI survey is just the latest study to indicate that the UK economy is now weakening, with some analysts saying there is a risk it could slide into recession.

The most recent official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that UK economic growth came to a standstill in the first quarter of this year.

The figures contrast to the most recent ONS figures on retail sales, which showed a modest recovery.

News reported by The BBC

A report on UK retail sales has posted its worst monthly reading since it was first compiled 25 years ago.

A balance of 46% of retailers reported a fall in sales in the first half of August compared with a year earlier, said the CBI business organisation.

This was the second month in a row that the CBI’s distributive trade survey had posted a record low.

With only supermarkets reporting a rise in sales, the CBI said it had been a “summer to forget” on the High Street.

Higher bills impact

The CBI said higher bills and this summer’s bad weather had deterred spending.

“This has been a summer that many retailers would rather forget,” said Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI distributive trades panel and Asda director.

“The downturn in the housing market is continuing to depress sales for those shops selling big-ticket items.”

The CBI survey is just the latest study to indicate that the UK economy is now weakening, with some analysts saying there is a risk it could slide into recession.

The most recent official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that UK economic growth came to a standstill in the first quarter of this year.

The figures contrast to the most recent ONS figures on retail sales, which showed a modest recovery.

News reported by The BBC

Price-conscious consumers continued to hold back on spending last month, the British Retail Consortium said, with “frivolous shopping off the agenda”.

With consumer confidence at new lows, even heavy discounts had sometimes failed to lure people to open their wallets and purses, the BRC added.

Like-for-like retail sales fell 0.9% compared with July 2007. Total sales, which include new stores, rose 1.7%.

Sales of food and drink were up, but against weak sales a year earlier.

The results mean that there has been negative like-for-like sales growth for four of the past five months.

Between May and July, like-for-like sales were 0.3% lower than the same three-month period a year earlier.

Not over yet

According to the BRC, this slowdown looks set to continue.

“Frivolous shopping is off the agenda as most customers concentrate on value and durability and there are few signs the slowdown has yet bottomed out,” said director general Stephen Robertson.

Declining consumer confidence and rising household bills have hit spending on furniture and other household items particularly hard, the BRC said.

Sales of furniture and flooring were down for the sixth consecutive month.

Where people did spend on items for the home, it was on basic lines or discounted products, rather than higher value, non-essential items.

Earlier this week, the employers organisation the CBI, said the UK economy was deteriorating faster than it had previously thought.

It has also revised down its forecast for economic growth in 2009 from 1% to 0.4%.

News reported by The BBC