What you need to know before the open February 28, 2014 European bourses are set to open slightly higher this morning, after Fed chair Janet Yellen yesterday acknowledged the possibility that recent severe weather in the US could have impacted economic data. She also confirmed the Fed remains on track with its tapering programme. US markets finished on a record high yesterday, with the S&P 500 [...]
Aviva Investors offloads stake in Dublin’s Liffey Valley for €250m February 17, 2014 AVIVA Investors has sold its majority stake in a Dublin mall in a deal worth over €250m (£205m), it announced yesterday, in the latest sign of a resurgent Irish property market. The firm, which developed the Liffey Valley site 15 years ago, had looked to exit its 72.8 per cent holding in 2011 but scrapped [...]
London 2030: An optimist’s vision of the next urban renaissance April 1, 2014 LONDON faces acute problems of growth. We are building barely a third as many new homes as we need. Yet there is no credible plan for the other two-thirds. In 17 boroughs, the average rent is more than half the average wage, and the typical first time buyer is 32. Peak congestion is unbearable across [...]
Huge growth in new buyers leads Christie’s to record year January 22, 2014 HISTORIC auction house Christie’s sold more than £4.54bn worth of art and antiques during 2013 as booming numbers of first-time buyers led the firm to a record year of sales. Christie’s, founded in London in 1766, saw the number of new buyers increase 30 per cent last year. In total, these newcomers accounted for 22 [...]
Grainger sales double as market speeds up February 6, 2014 THE UK’s largest listed residential landlord Grainger posted a strong start to the year, with sales more than doubling in the first four months thanks to a one-off disposal and the improving housing market. Group sales increased by 131 per cent to £149.3m compared with £64.6m during the same period last year after the group [...]
City Moves for 27 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 26, 2014 Hanson Asset Management The asset management firm has announced the appointment of Jonathan Arthur as head of investment management. He was previously head of UK equities at UBS Private Wealth. KPMG The professional services firm has appointed Dan Roman to lead its UK hedge funds practice. He joined the hedge funds tax practice three years ago from EY, [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 May 2014 May 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Allergan: Valeant bid would hit R&D Allergan has launched a robust defence against a near-$50bn bid by rival drugmaker Valeant and activist investor Bill Ackman, warning that a takeover would crush research and severely impair its ability to sell its products, including Botox. Allergan also said it had doubts about the viability of [...]
What you need to know before the US open February 18, 2014 US stock futures point to a mixed open, following a three-day weekend. The first economic data in this week show the Empire Manufacturing Index, which gauges business activity for manufacturers in New York, fell from 12.51 to 4.48 in February. Analysts had expected a reading of 8.5. Outlook’s better, though – companies surveyed are expecting [...]
Marriage of the old and the new in St John’s Wood February 13, 2014 Meet the modern townhouse with six floors, a home cinema, a gym, and a spare studio apartment LONDON TOWNHOUSES are the last traditonal homes in this thoroughly modern city. But increasing demand has inspired a developer to see if it could build one that would take the contemporary market by storm. Park View, in St [...]
Trade Secrets March 16, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks fashion, funding and family business with Nish and Sach Kukadia, co-founders of the flash sales website and private members club Secretsales.com DEAL of the day, or flash sales sites, were brought into the post-dotcom bubble world with the launch of Woot.com in 2004. It gave customers a 24 hour window each day [...]