Oil giants dent FTSE April 12, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat this morning as oil giants BP and Shell saw their stocks hit. Royal Dutch Shell reported that oil had been spotted in the water near one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico while BP faced a shareholder revolt today. Another significant drag on the market was the World [...]
Rapid Responses September 26, 2012 Clegg on housing [Re: The ideas emerging from Lib Dem conference dissolve under scrunity, Tuesday] Nick Clegg, and the coalition more broadly, are failing to pursue sufficient supply-side reform in the housing sector. The reason approved sites are lying idle is because the current planning system limits supply. The really big money is to be [...]
British Land taps US bond markets June 26, 2011 LONDON-listed property giant British Land is close to raising $500m (£313m) by issuing bonds in the US private placement market. The firm, which owns the Broadgate complex in the City that it will now be able to redevelop following a campaign by City A.M. against an English Heritage objection, had looked to place $200m of [...]
British aid policy is harming those it seeks to rescue August 13, 2012 TO TOP off a successful Olympics, David Cameron put London’s time in the global spotlight to good use by hosting a Hunger Summit at Downing Street, with the aim of tackling malnutrition in the developing world. Unfortunately, yet again, Cameron’s government failed to go the distance. Sunday’s outcome gave no indication of any shift in [...]
NICK CANDY JOINS THE PARTY SET AT CANNES March 8, 2012 AFTER a subdued and more sombre start to MIPIM, the annual property conference in Cannes, the mood began to pick up on Wednesday, the second and busiest day, as the weather brightened and investors began to talk more positively, albeit cautiously about the outlook for real estate this year. The sun graced Cannes in time [...]
The Sapphires is a partial hit but The Alps has a mountain to climb November 8, 2012 FILM THE SAPPHIRES Cert 12A | By Alex Dymoke *** Soul music and Chris O’Dowd’s face must be two of the most inherently likeable things on the planet. Given that both feature prominently in Australian movie The Sapphires, it is perhaps unsurprising that the film has landed in the UK to an enthusiastic chorus of [...]
Retrieve and Sirvino are the value in November Handicap November 8, 2012 IT has been a brilliant season for racing with personal highlights being there at York to watch Frankel hose up in the International Stakes and then last month seeing Sir Henry Cecil’s superstar bow out of the game unbeaten with victory in the QIPCO British Champion Stakes at Ascot. Doncaster tomorrow afternoon hosts the final [...]
Virgin Atlantic to launch domestic flights August 21, 2012 Virgin Atlantic today announced plans to operate three daily return flights between London and Manchester from next year, its first foray into the short-haul domestic market. The airline, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, plans to fly from London’s Heathrow airport to Manchester airport in the north west of England from March 2013 – providing [...]
Green rules could make it impossible to rent some flats March 6, 2012 THE BRITISH Property Federation has called on the government to provide more clarity on the minimum energy standards that will be required by commercial and residential landlords beyond 2018 under new legislation. Changes being brought by the Energy Act 2011 will mean that hundreds of thousands of UK properties with the least energy efficiency – [...]
British Land buys Virgin Active clubs in £179m deal July 8, 2011 Property investor British Land bought a portfolio of 17 freehold and leasehold Virgin Active premium racquet clubs from French bank Societe Generale for £179m. It said the clubs – about half of them within London’s M25 ringroad – would be let to Virgin Active on new, 25-year leases, pending its acquisition of Esporta. British Land [...]