Allied Irish loss soars to €10.4bn April 12, 2011 Allied Irish Banks’ full-year loss more than quadrupled to €10.4bn (£9.2bn) in 2010 and the lender said on Tuesday it would axe over 2,000 jobs as it seeks to re-invent itself as a locally-focussed bank. A former stock market darling with international ambitions, AIB has been effectively nationalised and saved from collapse by emergency ECB [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SAVILLS’ RESULTS? March 17, 2011 NAN ROGERS | COLLINS STEWART The figures were a little bit better than we were expecting, with the transactions business improving more than we had hoped. The dividend was also significantly higher. The Asian market could drop back this year, just because it was so strong in 2010, but the US market is looking particularly [...]
Centre Point tower sold March 24, 2011 NEW PROPERTY company Almacantar could turn some floors of the Centre Point tower into luxury flats, after buying the tower out of administration. Almacantar, set up last year by former Land Securities executive Mike Hussey, has exchanged contracts on the Grade II-listed tower near Tottenham Court Road underground station. The firm did not say how [...]
REGAL DITCHES BROKER MIRABAUD AFTER TUSSLE OVER LEADERSHIP September 15, 2010 IT WAS the end of an activist era yesterday for broker Mirabaud Securities and oil and gas firm Regal Petroleum, which parted ways on, shall we say, less than friendly terms. Regal’s terse termination statement to the stock exchange came after Mirabaud questioned the tenure of the company’s chief executive, David Greer. That’s not a [...]
Capital & Counties mulls Earls court joint venture February 23, 2011 DEVELOPER Capital & Counties said yesterday it is mulling a joint venture for its proposed multi-billion pound redevelopment of Earls Court in London, and has received interest from a number of parties. The developer said in a statement that a joint venture (JV) for the 8,000-home development, one of the largest new residential projects in [...]
Capital & Counties mulls Earls court joint venture February 23, 2011 DEVELOPER Capital & Counties said yesterday it is mulling a joint venture for its proposed multi-billion pound redevelopment of Earls Court in London, and has received interest from a number of parties. The developer said in a statement that a joint venture (JV) for the 8,000-home development, one of the largest new residential projects in [...]
Changing times: moving on from Mayfair March 17, 2011 PRICES of the Monopoly board favourite Mayfair, as well as other prime favourites, have rocketed to near 2007 levels (see graph below), leading to the emergence of alternative investment hotspots. Marylebone is being hailed as the new Mayfair, with residential favourites Pimlico, Hampstead and Fulham hot on its heels. Mayfair prices have been drastically pushed [...]
Shock rise in mortgage defaults in 2011 March 31, 2011 MORTGAGE defaults have unexpectedly shot up in the first three months of the year, the Bank of England revealed yesterday. A positive balance of 11.5 per cent of respondents to the Bank’s credit conditions survey reported a rise in defaults on secured loans to households. Worse, even more – a positive balance of 14.3 per [...]
Cool loft living, thanks to the Victorians March 31, 2011 THE grandly impressive school buildings of the Victorian era tend to present wonderfully idiosyncratic conversion opportunities. This month’s property of the month is a case in point. Thackeray School in Battersea was a typical Victorian development – a towering redbrick affair, if rather more elegant than some examples of the genre. Built between 1876 and [...]
Desert dreaming: a second home in the sun March 31, 2011 BUSTLING markets, scorching heat, exotic dress and fantastic food. It is hard to believe that the almost otherworldliness of Marrakesh is just three and 35 minutes away from London. Charl Ackerman, a London-based property developer with Aylesford International, uses his home in Marrakesh like many do their country home: “I often fly out on weekends. [...]