UK steel crisis: Tata Steel looking into sale of UK assets, including Port Talbot operation in Wales, as Labour leader Corbyn and unions call for government intervention March 30, 2016 Tata Steel is set to sell its UK assets, putting thousands of jobs at risk, after crunch talks held yesterday between the company, politicians and union bosses in Mumbai failed to deliver a different solution. The company said last night that it had told the board of Tata Steel Europe to "explore all options for portfolio restructuring including [...]
You may love many cars in a lifetime, but you only ever have one first love. For me, it was an Aston Martin June 6, 2016 With 568 British horsepower it’s quite appropriate I should pay a visit to Her Majesty’s stud. Driving down Kings Avenue towards the Sandringham Estate I spotted the stables to the right, a big ‘ER’ embedded in the brickwork, and swung my Aston Martin through the open gate. Within seven seconds a royal protection officer arrived [...]
The New Day but not a new dawn for Mirror owner February 19, 2016 It may lack the attention-grabbing quality of “Bus Found on Moon” and other red-top headlines, but “Publisher Unveils National Tabloid” has a similar ring of implausibility. In a national newspaper market characterised by perpetually declining annual sales, Trinity Mirror’s launch of New Day looks like an adventurous bet on the willingness of a dwindling band of [...]
RBS share price rises after it sells off portfolio of Irish real estate loans December 7, 2015 The Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) Ulster Bank today has sold off a portfolio of Irish real estate loans for £360m, as part of a drive to decrease its capital needs. The assets were bought by a subsidiary of Cairn Homes and an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, and the sale is expected to complete by the end of this [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s Help-to-Buy and other housing budget announcements are little more than empty rhetoric November 25, 2015 George Osborne’s big news today was the announcement that the government “chooses to build” and will double the housing budget to £2bn, reforming the housing system and pumping £7bn into building 400,000 more affordable homes. Described as "the biggest affordable housebuilding programme since the 1970s", it's great news for those in desperate need of affordable housing. However [...]
Sports Direct in talks to open Lillywhites concessions in House of Fraser November 15, 2015 Sports Direct is reported to be in talks with House of Fraser about introducing concessions of its famous Piccadilly store Lillywhites inside the department store chain. Dave Forsey, the chief executive of the sportswear group, has held early stage talks with House of Fraser boss Nigel Oddy, according to The Sunday Telegraph, which reported that proposals [...]
City Moves for 8 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 8, 2016 Indigo Planning Indigo Planning has appointed regeneration and community engagement expert Mark Teasdale as associate director. Mark has provided consultancy advice to Indigo Planning for more than 10 years, creating its methodology for assessing the socio-economic impact of major, mixed use developments, directing numerous studies assessing the potential economic and social benefits of major schemes [...]
The Labour party’s income could be about to fall by £6m thanks to the Trade Union Bill January 11, 2016 Legal changes to the way in which it is given money by unions have sparked fears in the Labour party that its annual income could drop by £6m. Documents released to the Guardian showed how the legal changes proposed by the Conservatives could make it impossible for Labour to maintain its current structure, staffing and offices. Read [...]
Chancellor George Osborne’s stamp duty reforms cost the Treasury £662m in 2015 February 8, 2016 George Osborne’s overhaul of the stamp duty tax regime has cost the taxpayer well over half a billion pounds in lost revenue last year, new research today reveals, as sales of high-end homes slowed and investors switched tactics to avoid paying huge premiums on purchases. In December 2014 the chancellor scrapped the old system, where the [...]
Stamp duty land tax changes, which were announced in last November’s Autumn Statement, will amount to a stealth Cupid tax, warn tax experts February 7, 2016 Valentine's Day is on the horizon but recent tax regime changes mean that it might not feel like love is in the air for those couples planning on purchasing property after 31 March. The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has warned that couples could unwittingly find themselves subject to government's new three per cent surplus charge on stamp [...]