Centrica's 20% share of the pre-development expenditure will be written off as an exceptional cost in the group's 2012 results.

BBC: Centrica pulls out of new UK nuclear projects

Unlike Toshiba, which pioneered the laptop computer and has learnt to live with the jittery pace of development and capital expenditure of the computer industry, Hitachi still saunters to the 20-year product cycle of heavy-electrical machinery.

ECONOMIST: Hitachi��s snail-like progress

Innovation is not driven by high expenditure on research and development, but by the company's insights into consumer habits.

ECONOMIST: Consumer goods: Cleaning up | The