Volcker Rule is nothing to celebrate and financial markets could suffer December 11, 2013 FORMER Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker made his way through the snowy streets of Washington, DC on 10 December to attend a celebratory lunch. To widespread applause, the new rule that bears Volcker’s name has now been finalised by the five regulatory agencies responsible for it. Yet after the thousand page rule has taken hold [...]
Monty Python’s property circus November 21, 2013 Milkwood Studios, purpose built for the comedy legends, is a chance to live in a part of British culture BRITAIN rejoiced this week as a part of our cultural heritage was brought back to life. The comedy supergroup that is Monty Python will reunite for the first time in 30 years for a one-off show [...]
Matchmakers transforming how we buy and sell shares November 3, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to the duo behind Asset Match, the online peer-to-peer trading platform CROWDFUNDING platforms are multiplying across the world, with investors flocking to websites like Kickstarter to take a punt on small, private companies in the hope of high reward. Indeed, according to a recent report by research firm Massolution, by the end [...]
Letters to the editor – 22/08 – Global competition, HS2 debate, Best of Twitter August 21, 2013 Global competition [Re: We should be glad that foreign firms want to buy British companies, yesterday] I agree with Tim Worstall. It is essential that financiers and investors have a viable route to a profitable exit. And a foreign sale is often an important avenue. UK venture capital typically wishes to sell on in four to [...]
Confidence lifts value of market for UK flotations September 22, 2013 THE value of UK initial public offerings (IPOs) has soared to $7.16bn (£4.47bn) this year – more than eight times the amount raised by this time last year, according to Dealogic data. A list of 39 flotations this year includes monster deals such as the insurance company esure, with a deal value of more than [...]
House prices climb steadily through 2012 February 12, 2013 HOUSE prices chugged upwards steadily during last year, according to official statistics out yesterday. The average UK home was worth 3.3 per cent more at the end of 2012 than at end of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its house price index, up from the 2.2 per cent annual growth seen [...]
Horological heaven in Chelsea November 6, 2013 The fine watch extravaganza that is SalonQP opens tonight at the Saatchi Gallery. Timothy Barber picks his highlights About a year ago, I was making my way through the Saatchi Gallery when a man walked past carrying in his hand a tiny metal gadget that resembled a beetle crossed with a miniature car engine. But [...]
Experian boss defends his drive for expansion November 10, 2013 Don Robert has steered the credit checking firm into fast-growing new businesses AS THE boss of a company best known for its credit checks, Don Robert is at home talking about hazardous spending decisions. “Arguably if every investment we made was brilliant we’d have to ask ourselves the question: are we taking the right amount [...]
Buyers queuing for homes, says Barratt’s chief September 11, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments yesterday said queues were forming for its housing schemes for the first time since the financial crisis, as the market recovery spreads beyond southeast England. Britain’s largest housebuilder by volume, said yesterday that buyer appetite for its homes was so strong that for some sites it was making five to 10 sales [...]
Travis Perkins slams Osborne over economy February 21, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT needs some radical thinking to get the economy moving, the boss of the country’s biggest supplier of building materials, Travis Perkins said yesterday. “The trouble at the moment is that people are thinking of conventional solutions and I’m afraid we’re not in conventional economic times, so we’ve got to think more radically to [...]