Best of British: Four top UK stocks for your ISA – the cream of the house builders, defence, television and retail May 31, 2016 The UK is home to many great businesses and buying shares in ones with good business models and prospects for growth can be a great way to boost savings in an Isa or Sipp. Markets have been rocky this year because of Brexit and trouble overseas, but we asked the best fund managers for examples of [...]
Meet Zenbo, Asus’s Wall.E style home robot May 30, 2016 A Wall.E style robot that can help around the home has been launched by Taiwan electronics firm Asus. “For decades, humans have dreamed of owning such a companion: one that is smart, dear to our hearts, and always at our disposal. Our ambition is to enable robotic computing for every household," said Asus chairman Jonney [...]
House sales up again with flood of new buyers September 11, 2014 The housing market resurged again in July, defying expectations that activity was slowing down, industry figures revealed yesterday. The number of first-time buyers surged by 25 per cent in the year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). More than 30,000 bought a place on the housing ladder in the month, the biggest number since [...]
Gazumping is a go! This is how many property purchases fall through June 3, 2016 Some would-be homeowners are learning the hard way that, even if the ink's dry on the contract, it doesn't guarantee they'll be moving in any time soon. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of homebuyers have had a house purchase fall through after they've had an offer accepted, research out today has found. The [...]
Property of the Week: The Woolwich mansion where Mike Leigh filmed Mr Turner is up for sale for £3m March 29, 2016 The life of a property developer is rarely glamorous. But for 15 weeks in 2014, Gary Halkyard rubbed shoulders with the great and the good of the British film industry and it was all down to a run-down mansion he'd acquired two years previously. Midway through restoring Rush Grove House in Woolwich, Oscar-nominated director Mike [...]
Luxury brands must adapt to slower growth, warns Italian designer label boss June 19, 2016 The boss of one of Italy's leading luxury goods makers has warned there will be no let-up in the sector's slowdown, a scenario which firms must adapt to. Speaking before the Salvatore Ferragamo menswear show at Milan Men's fashion week, chief executive Michele Norsa told Reuters: "Growth will not be as strong as in past years, when the Chinese [...]
Parking mad: London parking spaces sold for over £200,000 May 8, 2016 LONDON is one of the world’s most expensive places to pay for parking space. On Brewer Street in Soho, for example, you could spend over £50 on just three hours of parking. That may be why some mysterious buyers have forked out as much as much as half a million pounds to buy a parking [...]
Tata Steel to start sales process today April 11, 2016 Tata Steel kicked off the formal process of selling its loss-making UK plants today. So far Liberty House, which is owned by steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, is the only company to publicly express interest. Other potential bidders include turnaround specialist Greybull Capital and German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp. Read more: Why the bank bailouts are no model to follow [...]
Brick maker Forterra floats on London Stock Exchange with £360m valuation as it seeks to capitalise on growing UK housing market April 21, 2016 The UK's second largest brick maker is making its debut on the London Stock Exchange today as it seeks to take advantage of the UK's growing housing market. The flotation values Forterra at £360m, with the company missing its target of £450m. The initial public offering (IPO) comprises a sale of 70m shares, representing 35 per cent of the [...]
Pressure for pay reform may now be irresistible September 9, 2016 Chris Philp’s timing is impeccable. Theresa May’s fresh vow to reform executive pay had no sooner been uttered this week than her fellow Conservative MP was spraying bullets at company directors, institutional investors and remuneration consultants. A looming autumn crackdown by the government explains why committee room 15 in the House of Commons was packed on [...]