Impellam Group (03/02/2015)

Impellam Group PLC reported preliminary, unaudited results for the year ended Jan. 2, 2015, with revenues totaling £1.3 billion, up 9.7% from £1.2 billion in the year ended Dec. 27, 2013. The company reported an operating profit of £34 million, compared with £0.4 million in 2013.

Staffing revenues totaled £1.3 billion, up 11.5% from £1.1 billion. For its North American segments, revenue totaled £95.3 million for managed services, up 13.6% from £88.2 million, and £91.4 million for specialist staffing, down 7.7% from £104.2 million.

Wall Street Journal (03/02/15) Kathleen Madigan

U.S. manufacturers retreated in February on the heels of weakness in overseas markets and West Coast ports labor difficulties. Supply disruptions resulting from the West Coast ports slowdown led to a retreat in the Institute for Supply Management’s top-line purchasing managers’ index to 52.9 in February, from 53.5 in January. It was the fourth consecutive monthly decline in the index, although a number above 50 signals expansion. The ISM indexes on production, new orders, and employment also signaled expansion in those areas but at a slower pace than in January.

It is unclear how many responses to the survey were gathered before the tentative port agreement was announced Feb. 20. The ISM doesn’t reveal when it stops collecting responses, but a spokesperson said the process goes “very late in the month to give the most accurate picture of current activity.”

Wall Street Journal (03/02/15) Kate Davidson

U.S. consumer spending declined in January for the second consecutive month. Personal spending fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but spending rose 0.3% after adjusting for inflation, due in part to higher incomes as more people return to the workforce. Disposable income rose sharply, and economists say low inflation should boost spending power, particularly given the accelerating wage gains in a tightening labor market. Thanks to lower gasoline prices, people are saving at a higher rate, which could give them the resources to increase spending later in the year even if gas prices increase.

“Improving labor-market conditions will be a far more important driver of growth in consumer spending in 2015 than retail gasoline prices,” says Richard Moody, chief economist for Regions Financial Corp.

The price index for personal consumption expenditures declined 0.5% from December and is down 0.2% from a year ago. Excluding energy and food, core prices rose 1.3% in January from a year ago.