Singapore Air Show in full flight as Airbus unveils A350 February 11, 2014 A bevy of travel tycoons, military buyers and the world’s largest long-haul carriers have come together today Singapore’s renowned air show. New models, latent deals and loop-the-loops are dominating the day, as excitement over the new Airbus A350 grows. The Boeing 787 competitor has gone on display for the first time, with Asia seen as [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 17 March 2014 March 17, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Big banks put forex bonuses on hold Barclays, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland have frozen bonuses across swaths of their foreign exchange trading teams pending internal investigations into possible manipulation of key currency benchmarks. The cash and share bonus suspensions are targeted on the wider team rather than just the traders under [...]
Bottom Line: London just needs to wait a bit for lift-off February 18, 2014 ON ONE level and after a superficial look at developments, it might seem as if London is in danger of missing out on the impending flood of new issues that are about to hit the financial markets. Yesterday’s flurry of statements revealed that ISS, the giant services group, is floating in Copenhagen; King.com has chosen [...]
Stamp duty is feeding the growing bubble in London’s house prices February 16, 2014 SUPPORTERS of financial transaction taxes (FTT), often known as Robin Hood taxes, claim that they can make markets safer. But a look at London’s frothy housing market makes this argument difficult to sustain. FTTs remove liquidity from markets, making bubbles more likely to form. And it looks like London house prices are booming thanks to [...]
Taylor Wimpey returns £250m to shareholders February 26, 2014 TAYLOR Wimpey said yesterday it would pay £250m to shareholders after it became the latest housebuilder to report impressive results on the back of a surging housing market. The company said it will pay shareholders a special dividend of £50m in 2014, and £200m in 2015 from its growing cash pile, with plans for further [...]
London housing bubble inflates further August 16, 2013 LONDON house prices soared to more than 12-times the average income in June, official figures showed yesterday, as economists warned the boom could prove unsustainable. Government policies to keep interest rates low and help first time buyers onto the property ladder are pumping up a bubble, analysts said. The average price in London shot up [...]
Buyers flock to market but supply shortage hits sales August 18, 2013 IN THE year to July, the number of first-time buyers in London rose by an astonishing 109.1 per cent. According to information released today by estate agent Haart, there has been a 27.9 per cent rise in new buyers across the country, and a 60.3 per cent increase in London alone. Despite this surge in [...]
Letters to the editor – 13/08 – Board quotas, Forward guidance, Best of Twitter August 12, 2013 Board quotas [Re: We must be more meritocratic – but quotas are not the answer, yesterday] The quota plans come at a time when there is an existing organic trend towards greater workplace equality. More females apply to university than males, and 60 per cent of law and medicine students are women. Figures from the [...]
London housing bubble inflates further August 13, 2013 LONDON house prices soared to more than 12-times the average income in June, official figures showed yesterday, as economists warned the boom could prove unsustainable. Government policies to keep interest rates low and help first time buyers onto the property ladder are pumping up a bubble, analysts said. The average price in [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 06 February 2014 February 5, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Super rich in London boost economy London’s super-rich are “major contributors to the UK economy”, spending £4bn a year on goods and services, according to new research that underlines the financial impact of the capital’s wealthiest homeowners.Foreign investment in London property has become a political issue, with overseas buyers blamed for pricing locals [...]