John Richmond's Finance and Money blog

The Home Retail Group has observed a fall in the annual profit of slightly below 10%. The group that own Argos and Homebase have published twelve month profits of £265.2m that was anticipated because the group had published a profit warning last month, the business has stated revenue had fallen 2.8% to £5.85bn and also the cash gross margin decreased 4% to £2.18bn. This past year they saw a profit of £292.9m nevertheless the DIY marketplace that Homebase competes in has been diminishing.

A big proportion of the House Retail Group’s business is transferring to on-line retail, reaching nearly 50 % of all sales within the case of Argos. Argos is all so starting a shopping channel to contend within the home buyer marketplace.

The group also have reduce the expenses of supply and operation by 3%. Share costs stay around the 200p mark having a rise of 5% in early trading.

Home Retail Group chairman Oliver Stocken said:

"Economic uncertainty along with a low level of consumer confidence continue to adversely impact customer spending patterns, regardless of these challenges, the group continues to develop on its strategic benefits to make sure that it'll be well-positioned for the economic recovery over the longer term."

Well, it looks as though I'm finally moving ISP from Zen back to BT broadband, as I just called Zen for a MAC code.

It's a shame, really, as Zen has a far better reputation for serviceand support than BT, but the problem of wireless interference is aconstant and annoying problem.

Plus BT are offering mobile broadband with their new broadband packages, and free BT openzone minutes, which will be very useful for business travel.

The caveat is that the pricing on the BT website is quitemisleading, as those shown only apply to certain exchanges (apparently)plus they include 24-month pricing, which can take as much as 25%-30%off the 12-month price (so Option 3 is £45+VAT over 24 months, or£30+VAT over 12 months).

Still, at least I know from experience that the BT router supplied is far less susceptible to wireless intereference.

Which is very important, because if I couldn't get decent businessbroadband, I'd have to consider more serious broadband connection packages, such as a leased line or custom business SDSL, both of which are priced higher than normal mass-market broadband packages.

In the meantime, I can only hope the move to BT goes smoothly, andthat I don't end up getting caught up in their cold automated support process - as BT customer service is not renown for being good.

The more I read about the impact of the financial crisis in the UK,the more it feels that the UK is doomed economically, and that the bestoption now while you have cash in Great British Sterling is to cash outand move aborad to somewhere more financially sound - ie, notthreatened with collapse by the weight of its own debt.

That may seem somewhat alarmist, but despite the claims of "greenshoots" earlier in the year, we have not seen any signs that theeconomy is returning to normal. In fact, anything but, and that at bestwe're moving into a "lost decade" similar as to what happened to Japan.

Britain's debt to GDP is spiralling out of control, and evenmeasures to reduce costs being mooted by Labour and the Conservativesare plain in their limitations - we are in far too much of a hole to beable to dig us out even within the next Parliament. It's going to takea full decade to even begin to expect to bring British debt tonormality, and during this period, there is no reason to presume theeconomy will fare any better.

Repossessions continue to be high, insolvencies are expected to increase, and consumer debt is growing through credit cards and loans at a time when paying are supposedly paying off debt. Unemployment continues to increase in leaps and bounds (forget that's its slowing - double dip, people), and rather than help employers hire, the government is actually going to tax companies more for employing people.

In the meantime, ratings agencies expect at least a further 15% fallin house prices in the UK, and at a time when the market is limpingforward, the FSA wants to bring in tougher rules on mortgages, while at the same time demanding banks hoard more cash.

And that's before we even get into the threats of deflation and unknown consequences of "Quantitive Easing".

The result of all these pieces in play can hardly be good forBritain - worsening debt, worsening access to credit, worseningconsumer spending, falling asset prices, etc. The strategies in playmay be different to Japan in the 90's, but the state of play is lookingincreasingly like it.

The problem, of course, is that while matters are exacerbated in theUK, these are afflictions across the world economy. So where is safe?

The answer is relative - the financial crisis is firmly rooted inthe US and Europe, and while other areas have been impacted, theirfundamantals have been far less knocked by comparison.

Asia remains strong and a bulwark so far against global financialcollapse. While no doubt asset bubbles there are growing, they stilldon;t have the problem of being so invested in complex debt instrumentsthat have so far crippled US and European banks.

Personally speaking, Thailand looks idyllic, but remains subject to Typhoons, as does much of East Asia. A good place to consider investing in, though.

South America is another emerging economy as well, not least in terms of investments, such as land for sale Brazil & property for sale Brazil.If South America itself seems a little rough, you could always considermoving towards central America, not least Panama, which remains underUS control, and still offers a lot of decent property for sale Panama.

Australia or New Zealand could even be places worth considering moving to - close enough to Asia to feel the economic benefit, but heavily Anglicised.

In the meantime, now seems to be the moment to batten down thehatches or move on - economic power is clearly heading East, and todeveloping nations, and for those who remain, only the prophets of doom are left to comfort us.

This spring's green shoots are being increasing shown to have misplaced optimism,with economic conditions continuing to worsen within the UK - GDPcontinues to fall, and expectations of a recovery for next year remain muted.

While it's easy to just look at the UK in isolation, there are a couple of major economic pointers on the horizon that suggest the world'seconomy could suffer major set backs and become a new depression - even before a recovery has begun.And this is likely to bode ill for Britain, with existing downbeatexpectations potentially proving to be optimistic if these factors playout.

The first is the credit bubble in China.So far, the Chinese economy has continued to grow strong - but it seemsthat rather than learn from the mistakes of the West, the Chinese arekeen to repeat them. Yes, there's a credit bubble forming in the Chinese economy, as the government there encourages lending to such a degree that the IMF is already alarmed.

The second is the original engine of the credit crunch - the US realestate market. So far it has shown no real recovery, and what's worse,is that not only are repossessions (foreclosures) continuing to increase, they are not expected to peak until after August 2011, when the last big wave of ARMs - subprime mortgages - come up for renewal past their discount period.

These are not the only negative indicators - the IMF continues to warn that the world economy faces a deflationary spiral, that if borne out, could leave much of the West enduring an economic scenario equivalent to Japan's lost decades.

The UK has its own problems as well, not least due to the major debt bubble it's been sitting on for the past few years (it's not simply about house prices anymore). Lending in the UK is still suffering, with a mass withdrawal from the personal loans market, and such poor lending to business by the banks that Alaister Darling is now having to try and appear to be doing something about it. In the meantime, the IMF is warning that the UK's credit card debt could be crippling.

Any suggestion of an improving mortgage market should be taken in context of the fact that Spring and summer aretraditionally the peak season - and what we've seen so far is stillweak.

In short, economic conditions in the world remain fragile, but thereare no positive indicators at present to suggest we're past the worst of it - anything but. There are still major dangers on the horizon, which leave little room for optimism for future economic conditions.