Should the BBA’s warning of a hotting up housing market concern policy-makers? July 26, 2015 Charlie Cadywould, a researcher at Demos, says Yes. Since 2010, housing policy has largely focused on demand-side measures, designed to give particularly first-time buyers a leg-up on the housing market. In reality, these policies may have only served to push up prices further. It is only through increasing supply that the escalating housing crisis plaguing [...]
Parliament’s BHS inquiries: Everything you need to know May 18, 2016 Two parliamentary committees will come together for a second time next week as part of an ongoing investigation into the collapse of BHS. The Work and Pensions select committee and the Business Innovation and Skills select committee held a joint hearing last week, grilling the chief executives of the Pension Protection Fund and The Pensions Regulator over the [...]
What Brexit means for UK M&A: Experts expect further drop in activity June 24, 2016 Deal activity in the UK is expected to fall further in the second half of 2016 following the Brexit vote. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has already slowed this year following a record 2015. Data released yesterday from MergerMarket and Dealogic showed that UK-targeted activity slowed in the first half of the year, and more [...]
Verizon Communications lines up bid for Yahoo’s web business, with Google and others also considering moves April 7, 2016 Verizon Communications is said to be interested in bidding for Yahoo's web business. The share price of Yahoo initially shot up when news of the potential bid emerged, before closing down 1.3 per cent at $36.17. Verizon's shares closed down nearly 2.8 per cent at $51.99. Read more: Yahoo-h dear. Web portal expects 15 per cent revenue [...]
Sell in May and go away? Why some hedge funds are looking forward to this summer April 26, 2016 Some investors swear by the well-known adage “Sell in May and go away”, given that it’s a month that can bring low trading volumes, thin liquidity and, even worse, a stock market sell-off that permeates over the summer. Will this year be any different? Is it worth just going on holiday until St Leger Day, [...]
Labour must be a credible government-in-waiting to win over City A.M. readers September 2, 2015 The first speech I gave in the Labour leadership contest was on the economy and business. I acknowledged that, despite many pro-growth policies, too many businesses, their owners and employees looked at the Labour Party in recent years and did not see a party that understood their challenges or was on their side. This [...]
Miliband’s disappointing stamp duty pledge won’t make the tax less stupid April 27, 2015 Housing, and its affordability crisis, is a bigger issue at this election than in any other for decades. Sadly, that hasn’t translated into policies that could effectively solve the problem, and yesterday’s announcements by Labour leader Ed Miliband will not change that. Labour plans to introduce a three-year stamp duty exemption for first time buyers, [...]
August 2015 TfL Tube strike: Union RMT wants pay rises in line with house price growth August 5, 2015 Transport union RMT has given a rare level of detail into one of its demands over the Night Tube – namely that it is seeking pay rises of up to 25 per cent for the five years. The union has put together a detailed flyer “for the public” to explain why Tube workers are [...]
Steel crisis: Government in talks with European Commission to avoid state aid clash April 24, 2016 The government is in talks with European competition regulators to avoid breaching state aid rules that could hold up attempts to rescue the UK's steel industry. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced last Thursday it would be willing to take a 25 per cent stake in Tata Steel's UK assets and offer "hundreds [...]
The first-time buyer boom in two charts: Number gaining property ladder foothold hits seven-year high July 19, 2014 The number of first-time buyers purchasing their own home is now at its highest since pre-crisis 2007 with 144,500 first-time buyers jumping on to the property ladder in the first half of the year- a 25 per cent rise on the same period in 2013. The figures from Halifax point to a boom in the [...]