Pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year for the

Pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year for the group were up 18 per cent to €69.3m (£46.8m).Banana prices are thought to have stayed high throughout the third quarter of the year, meaning Fyffes should be on track for a strong year. It said it should deliver full-year profits ahead of current expectations.Shipping and fuel costs rose as a result of the higher oil price, but these were partly offset by the improved exchange rates compared with last year.The acquisition of a stake in Eurofresh, which supplies fruit and vegetables to the Scandinavian markets, helped Fyffes produce record sales, up 18 per cent to €1.1bn.An EU competition investigation into banana and pineapple suppliers is continuing. Fyffes said it had been visited by investigators in June as part of its inquiry into the market.Fyffes is also still battling alongside the rest of the banana industry to stop the introduction of a new tariff system on EU imports due to start in 2006.Fyffes said talks with the EU were ongoing and were unlikely to be resolved until the end of the year.. The directors of Britain’s largest companies now share pension savings worth £900m and can expect 45 times as much retirement income as their staff, a report from the TUC revealed yesterday.

The trades union group accused executives of abandoning generous pension schemes for employees while feathering their own nests. Brendan Barber, the TUC’s general-secretary, said: “Too many directors have closed decent final-salary pensions for staff and replaced them with cheaper and riskier schemes. Meanwhile, directors have continued to build up enormous VIP pensions, as they tighten everyone’s belts but their own.”
The TUC’s PensionWatch report revealed that directors of FTSE 100 companies collectively share final-salary pension scheme benefits worth £900m, with an average pension pot of £2.5m each. The average director’s pension would be worth £167,000 a year if paid out today. The report also revealed that 85 per cent of FTSE 100 directors were members of a final-salary scheme, even though just 38 per cent of their companies have final-salary plans open to all members of staff.

Directors were also likely to earn pension rights more quickly than employees, the TUC said.The report did not name individual companies or directors, but BP’s Lord Browne is understood to have the largest pension fund among the companies studied by the TUC. They failed to meet earlier targets for 2004 which required 75 per cent of pupils to reach the standard in English and maths and 70 per cent in science. Although boys narrowed the gap in writing skills this year, they fell further behind at reading. This means there is still an 11-point gap to close in just two years for English and maths, and 10 points to make up in science.At the current rate of improvement these targets will not be met.

And after a surprise fall in science results last year, there was a sharp, four-point rise this year, to 70 per cent of pupils reaching the standard expected of 14-year-olds.Girls continue to outperform boys, with the gender gap now standing at 13 points in English and one point in maths and science. In maths, results also now stand at 74 per cent, a rise of one point. “Even if or when we do not meet the targets I still think the message of the targets is that whoever you are and wherever you are we want you to succeed.”That is why we launched the key stage three national strategy, to improve the quality of teaching, to set a faster pace of learning, and to make sure that children’s success at primary school continues on into secondary education.”This year’s results saw English scores rise by three percentage points to 74 per cent. Teachers’ leaders complained that children face too many tests and called for a radical review of the system of targets and tests.Jacqui Smith, the Schools minister, said that the results showed that pupils were “reaping the benefits” of the Government’s drive to raise standards in secondary schools.She argued that ministers had been right to set “tough” targets but yesterday acknowledged that they might not be met. By 2007, 85 per cent of 14-year-olds should be up to standard in English and maths and 80 per cent in science. Although the results of tests taken by all 14-year-olds in England this summer were the “best ever”, ministers are not on track to meet their challenging targets for 2007, figures from the Department for Education and Skills showed.

The English and maths results are so low that they still have not met the original targets set for last year.

The Government has set challenging targets for 14-year-olds. Ministers will miss their targets for boosting secondary school standards, national test results published yesterday suggest, with some subjects even failing to make the grade set last year. “Some pupils and their parents actually lobbied the teachers at parents evening to get their predicted grades lifted, and were successful. It doesn’t seem fair for others who argue their case and are refused.”It seems a lot fairer to look at your track record than to use guesswork.”Elaine Barker. Teachers are in quite a lot of power when they predict your grades and what they say could be based more on how much they like you as much as your ability.”The idea that some students manage to persuade teachers to change their grade is also a concern. It is so much fairer for them to look at what you have already done.”I do know of people who have actually decided to take a year out and reapply because they achieved so much more than they were predicted. She added: “The new system sounds like a really good idea and if it applied this year, I think I would benefit from it.