Countrywide share price slumps after UK housing market slowdown July 31, 2015 Shares in the UK’s biggest estate agency Countrywide tumbled four per cent yesterday after posting a sharp fall in profits, blaming a “difficult housing market” and the uncertainty in the run-up to the General Election. The company, which owns estate agencies including Hamptons, Blundells and John D Wood, said profit before tax decreased [...]
Crown Estate returns £285m to public purse after record year June 24, 2015 The Crown Estate today announced another year of record profits thanks to the regeneration of its vast estate at the heart of London’s shopping district plus its growing offshore wind business. The Crown Estate’s net profit, which goes into the Treasury’s coffers, rose to a record £285.1m in the year to 31 March – up [...]
Why the disadvantaged have been education reform’s biggest winners August 13, 2015 THE SCHOOL reforms in England since 2010 have been underpinned by the rationale that a good education is emancipating and liberating; that it allows access to a world of opportunities and interests where an individual’s destiny is in their own hands. In order to achieve that goal, the coalition and now the Conservatives have undertaken [...]
Film review: Melissa McCarthy is hampered by her co-stars in Spy June 5, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Bounteous as Melissa McCarthy’s comedic gifts no doubt are, do they justify a resuscitation of the spy-spoof genre? In a word: no. In Spy she plays a desk-bound CIA operative working in partnership with field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) with whom she is not-so-secretly in love. Despite finishing top [...]
International arm of Queen’s bank Coutts could be sold off by RBS for $1bn August 11, 2014 Royal Bank of Scotland is considering selling off the international arm of its private bank Coutts for as much as $1bn under pressure from the UK government, reports suggest. The 18th century institution famous as the bank of the Queen, could be split in two, with one part remaining headquartered in Britain, according to Reuters. [...]
RBS mulls sale of Coutts’ units outside the UK August 11, 2014 Coutts might sell off its overseas arms, RBS told staff yesterday, as the bank looks to cut back its foreign operations even further. But the famous private bank’s UK business will not be sold, whatever happens to the rest of the group. RBS has refocused its operations on the UK since it collapsed [...]
Blow for Zoopla as estate agent The Spicerhaart Group lets deal expire November 27, 2014 Online property giant Zoopla was dealt a blow this morning as a leading UK estate agent revealed that it would not be renewing its contract with the site. The Spicerhaart Group – which runs Haart, Felicity J Lord, Darlows and Chewton Rose – will allow its deal with Zoopla to expire at the end of this week. [...]
Wind blows in record profits at Crown Estate June 25, 2014 CROWN Estate chief executive Alison Nimmo said the company had “hit a sweet spot” last year as the regeneration of its prized West London properties and offshore wind helped deliver record full-year profits. The Crown Estate’s net profit, which goes into the Treasury’s coffers, rose to a record £267.1m in the year to 31 March [...]
Focus On… Wimbledon: A game of two halves July 10, 2014 AS THE Championships drew to a close last week, it wasn’t just Novak Djokovic who was counting his prize money. Savvier residents in the leafy, south west London suburb who rented their property out for the fortnight also earned themselves a tidy profit, according to estate agents Hamptons International. “Many home owners choose to let [...]
Three ways to make better speeches June 19, 2014 Controlled breathing and finger exercises aren’t the only way to improve your mental state MORE people fear public speaking (56 per cent of us) than being buried alive, according to a 2013 survey of common worries by OnePoll. But public speaking, whether it’s making a presentation to colleagues or clients, or addressing a conference, is increasingly essential [...]