PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 5, 2010 MS LAUNCHES NEW GROWTH PLAN Morgan Stanley this week announced the launch of its FTSE Gilt-Backed Growth Plan 4, which offers investors a fixed return equivalent to 8.5 per cent a year, paid on the first anniversary that the FTSE records flat or positive performance. If this does not happen, then investors still have some [...]
Weak housing loans point to a price slump August 31, 2010 JUST 48,700 mortgages were approved in July, according to data published yesterday by the Bank of England, raising fears that the UK housing market is at best drifting sideways and at worst heading for a double-dip recession. Although the small rise was better than the dip to 46-47,000 that the market had expected, economists were [...]
Weak housing loans point to a price slump August 31, 2010 JUST 48,700 mortgages were approved in July, according to data published yesterday by the Bank of England, raising fears that the UK housing market is at best drifting sideways and at worst heading for a double-dip recession. Although the small rise was better than the dip to 46-47,000 that the market had expected, economists were [...]
Property price slide starts to feed through to companies August 15, 2010 RENEWED weakness in the housing market pushed more real estate services companies to the brink in July, according to the latest monthly City A.M./Begbies Traynor health monitor for the Square Mile. As economists look to September as the “crunch time” for Britain’s struggling property sector, our survey shows 945 firms across London including estate agents, [...]
Walker to bid £1bn for food firm Iceland October 10, 2010 THE boss of frozen food chain Iceland is planning a £1bn takeover of the firm he founded four decades ago, although he faces a potential bid battle, it emerged yesterday. Malcolm Walker, who together with other managers owns about a quarter of the retailer, is thought to have offered to buy the remaining 76 per cent [...]
House prices rise 0.1 per cent in June June 30, 2010 HOUSE prices rose by 0.1 per cent in June, according to the Nationwide building society. The average property price in the UK is now more than £170,000. Prices have risen by three per cent since the start of the year, the lender’s house price index showed. But the rate of annual house price inflation fell [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN HALFORDS BOUNCE BACK FROM THESE POOR RESULTS? July 27, 2010 NICK BUBB | ARDEN The key thing is that Halfords has re-iterated its full-year view of good, mid-teens earnings growth, given good cost control and the benefit of the recent Nationwide Autocentre acquisition, which continues to integrate well. We therefore hold our full-year profit forecast of £136m, a tad ahead of consensus. MARK PHOTIADES | [...]
Consumer confidence clouded June 15, 2010 The election and the prospect of an emergency budget sent consumer confidence plummeting to its lowest level in almost a year in May, according to a survey by Nationwide Building Society. Nationwide’s consumer confidence index fell to 65 in May, the lowest reading since June last year, from an upwardly revised reading of 75 in [...]
Consumer confidence clouded June 15, 2010 The election and the prospect of an emergency budget sent consumer confidence plummeting to its lowest level in almost a year in May, according to a survey by Nationwide Building Society. Nationwide’s consumer confidence index fell to 65 in May, the lowest reading since June last year, from an upwardly revised reading of 75 in [...]
London home prices up the most June 30, 2010 London and the South West have had the strongest growth in house prices, according to a Nationwide Building Society report. Second quarter London prices were up 13.2 per cent on a year earlier. South West houses are up three per cent and UK prices up 1.9 per cent.