Windfarm deal hits turbulence July 20, 2011 Climate Change Capital has postponed raising money to buy a stake in a Scottish wind farm, and said it would consider withdrawing from other projects due to “difficult market conditions”. CCC had agreed three weeks ago to spend £61.3m to take a 50 per cent stake in a farm owned by Scottish and Southern Energy.
Optimism in the air for property show March 4, 2012 AROUND 19,000 delegates are expected to attend MIPIM, the world’s largest property conference, which begins in Cannes today – a rise of 1,000 compared to the year before. More than 90 countries are attending the four-day extravaganza to discuss investment opportunities and showcase property from the City of London to Manchester and Birmingham. Event organiser [...]
Tax reform is long overdue: The coalition must act soon to boost long-term growth March 15, 2012 THE CONTENT of next week’s budget has been the subject of intense speculation. What will the magic budget briefcase contain? A tycoon tax or a cut in the 50p rate? Help for small businesses or low earners? Relief from rising fuel duty or restrictions on pension tax relief? Most of this discussion is around short-term [...]
Global warming agenda to hit living standards August 31, 2011 LOOKING at the scale of the fiscal correction needed, does anyone seriously think that a major new burden on the households who rely on benefits the most is remotely affordable? Politicians are clinging to their climate change policies but that is going to become increasingly untenable as the costs mount. Citigroup expect that in order [...]
Keeping track of your company’s total emissions makes sense on every level June 21, 2011 HEAD OF ACCA UK IT’S fair to say that climate change issues have stormed into the mainstream of political debate over the past couple of decades. David Cameron’s 2006 trip with the huskies and the consequent “vote blue, go green” strapline wouldn’t have been possible without the change in perception of green issues; “climate change” [...]
LUCY MORTON, LETTINGS, WA ELLIS | OLYMPICS LETS ARE A BAD IDEA February 16, 2012 “We are now receiving enquiries in their droves about lettings over the Olympic period. Interestingly, 90 per cent of these enquiries are coming from landlords, which tells a story in itself. At the moment, there is very limited demand from tenants. “I offer a word of caution to investor landlords who are considering losing their [...]
Shell reveals size of spill in the North Sea August 15, 2011 AROUND 216 tonnes of oil, equivalent to 1,300 barrels, have leaked from a ruptured pipeline at Royal Dutch Shell’s North Sea platform, causing a “significant spill”, the company admitted yesterday. Although the spill is small in comparison to BP’s Macondo Well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year, the spill is still “substantial”, according [...]
Russian opposition use Davos to tell Putin to reform or lose power January 29, 2012 KREMLIN clan in-fighting spilled into the open last week when government officials sympathetic with Russia’s fragmented opposition warned the country’s ultimate leader Vladimir Putin he may soon lose power if he doesn’t undertake sweeping reforms. Putin, Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008 and now prime minister, is expected to return to the presidency after March [...]
Insurance firms need regulators to pay attention March 4, 2012 PRUDENTIAL’S threat to quit the UK and move its headquarters to Asia isn’t a hollow one. There is a growing feeling in the City that British insurers are getting a raw deal from Solvency II, the new capital requirements that will soon govern the sector. There is wide acknowledgement that the UK regulator, the Financial [...]
UK can’t count on others messing up February 7, 2012 THERE are two ways a country can do well. The first is to introduce domestic policies that boost work, investment and innovation, and trigger an entrepreneurial revolution and job-creation. Regrettably, while the coalition has introduced a few pro-market policies – such as cutting corporation tax and tweaking some regulations – on balance it has made [...]