Cambridge beats London as fastest selling location for properties in UK July 17, 2014 Despite the talk of the London housing market overheating, it is Cambridge where houses are selling like hot cakes. According to data from Rightmove, a house in Cambridge stays on the website for an average of 27 days before it is marked as sold, above the average for Great Britain which is 65 days. Cambridge [...]
Sports Direct makes bet with stake in Tesco September 25, 2014 MIKE ASHLEY has made a £43m bet that shares in ailing supermarket Tesco will bounce back after the discovery of a £250m black hole in its accounts sent shares tumbling 16 per cent this week. The billionaire’s retail empire Sports Direct has entered into a put option agreement with Goldman Sachs over 23m shares in [...]
Vice Media to sell 10 per cent stake to A&E networks for $250m August 30, 2014 Vice Media has revealed they are nearing the sale of a 10 per cent stake to A&E Networks, after a period of negotiating with various suitors. A&E Networks is jointly owned by the Walt Disney and Hearst Corporation, and will invest $250m (£150m) in Vice, valuing the growing international media company at $2.5bn. Vice has [...]
M&M Direct sold for £140m after listing snubbed June 16, 2014 BUDGET online sports retailer M&M Direct is set to be sold for up to £140m – reversing plans for a stock market listing in London. The company, founded as a catalogue retailer in 1997, has clinched a deal to be acquired by Danish clothing outfit Bestseller. The firm’s current backer, private equity firm TA Associates, [...]
PlayStation 4: Sales reach 10 million as 14 November UK release date revealed for PlayStation TV August 13, 2014 Sony has sold 10m of its PlayStation 4 consoles in the nine months since launch and has revealed a 14 November UK release date for its new PlayStation TV streaming device. Speaking at gaming conference Gamescom, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Jim Ryan said consumer sales of the console, not just units shipped to retailers, had [...]
Design your own holiday home in The Cotswolds August 14, 2014 It’s a stifling summer’s day in London and work is exhausting. You shut your eyes and imagine escaping to an idyllic rural retreat complete with picturesque villages, a smattering of good restaurants, pubs, and a vibrant social scene. You’ve effectively transported yourself to the Cotswolds. This fantasy of a tranquil home-away-from-home is what the owners [...]
Focus On… Peckham: Only fools wouldn’t invest in SE15 June 20, 2014 PECKHAM has come a long way since Del Boy and Rodney. The Nag’s Head might still be there, but these days you’re more likely to bump into artists making things than cockney geezers on the make. And it isn’t just artists. Parts of Peckham are actually quite posh now. Bellenden village, with its smart pubs, [...]
Barratt profits double on sales at six-year high July 10, 2014 Barratt Developments, the biggest housebuilder by volume in the UK, yesterday announced it expected annual pre-tax profits to double to around £390m, buoyed by higher demand from a strong property market. The earnings figures would be record-breaking for Barratt, beating analyst forecasts and up from £192m in 2013. The forecast comes as the group saw [...]
Bankers report anaemic rise in business loans June 24, 2014 LENDING to businesses is rising sluggishly while the latest mortgage lending figures showed yesterday that the new regulatory efforts are helping to cool the growth of credit for housing. Figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) indicate that business lending has barely budged from its position a year ago, rising by only 0.3 per cent, [...]
Chestertons up for sale in hope of pocketing more than £50m July 2, 2014 LONDON estate agent Chestertons is considering putting the business on the block, as sales volumes of properties in the capital struggle to recover in line with prices. Cavendish Corporate Finance is understood to have been hired a couple of weeks ago to manage the sale process, which is now underway and is expected to fetch [...]