I’m out: Dragon’s Den star Julie Meyer has rolled her venture capital firm Ariadne Capital into administration December 21, 2017 Ariadne Capital, the venture capital firm of former Dragon’s Den star Julie Meyer, has been rolled into administration. The UK business rescue and recovery firm Leonard Curtis was appointed as administrator by Meyer herself, who is the majority shareholder and a secured creditor to Ariadne Capital. Meyer told City A.M. that she “appointed the administrator [...]
Leasehold ban: Fresh government plans crack down on “feudal” leasehold practices December 21, 2017 Communities secretary Sajid Javid will today announce new plans to cut out unfair and abusive practices within the leasehold system, including a ban on leaseholds for almost all new build houses. Changes will also be made so that ground rents on new long leases for both houses and flats are set to zero and to [...]
UK housing crisis: Let’s hope for a housing revolution in 2018 December 20, 2017 As the temporarily restored bongs of Big Ben sound at midnight on 31 December, those in the property sector could be forgiven for letting out a little sigh of relief at the passing of yet another year in which the government has resolutely failed to solve the housing crisis. Two stories today illustrate how severe [...]
Doubts about ‘value investing’ have returned to their pre-dotcom crash high December 18, 2017 Is legendary investor Warren Buffett losing his golden touch? On our Value Perspective investment blog, we would never dream of suggesting such a thing but type “Buffett losing touch” into Google and you will find plenty of financial commentators have, from time to time, had no such qualms. What is really interesting, however, is not [...]
Focus On Dulwich: Forget the new shiny skyscrapers, this London village attracts well-heeled families with good schools, period houses and bags of charm December 15, 2017 A Tube stop is usually the making of a neighbourhood in London. But in the case of Dulwich in south east London, the absence of a London Underground station may have been an advantage. Left to its own devices and hardly a tourist hotspot, some say this has allowed Dulwich to develop a character all [...]
The UK drove a recovery in European private equity activity this year as UK buyout value doubled, according to CMBOR December 13, 2017 European private equity activity saw a rebound this year, thanks to a bull-run in the UK where the value of buyout deals almost doubled. The total amount spent by private equity firms on new buyouts in Europe hit €90.2bn (£79.4bn), up 50 per cent from last year and on a par with pre-Brexit referendum levels, [...]
London’s new US embassy in Nine Elms will open in January 2018 December 13, 2017 The new, billion-dollar US embassy at Nine Elms in Wandsworth is set to open next month. US ambassador Woody Johnson made the announcement today on Twitter, saying: “We look forward to moving to our new embassy on Nine Elms… On the 16th of January our new embassy is open for business.” Big news – today [...]
UK house prices: Property price growth has fallen for the third month in a row December 12, 2017 House price growth in the UK dropped again in October, according to official figures, the third month in the row it has fallen. Property prices rose 4.5 per cent in the year to October, down from 4.8 per cent in September and 5.1 per cent in August. On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.5 per [...]
Deltic Group posts a loss but refurbishment and sales pushes increase admissions December 11, 2017 Bar and club operator Deltic Group reported a loss for the year to February this year, but regained some ground during quieter periods with its drinks offers. The results predate Deltic’s aggressive move into M&A this year, when it faced off Stonegate in a bidding war for Revolution Bars and eventually bought a stake in [...]
Christmas shopping: UK high street benefits from rise in customer numbers at start of Christmas shopping season December 11, 2017 The UK high street benefited from a slight rise in footfall last month as retailers started selling their Christmas ranges. Footfall rose by 0.2 per cent in November, according to data from Springboard. This was a significant improvement on last year, when footfall fell by one per cent year-on-year. Read more: Bright spot for BrightHouse? [...]