Canada puts Grosvenor Square embassy up for sale February 11, 2013 THE CANADIAN government is set to put one of its London properties in Mayfair up for sale as part of a plan to consolidate its presence in one spot in the capital. Macdonald House in Grosvenor Square has been the High Commission’s headquarters since the early 1960s, when it was bought from the US government. [...]
THE TIPSTER: KINGFISHING FOR A FIX February 18, 2013 THE challenging consumer backdrop doesn’t augur well for Kingfisher, and this will show when the retailer issues its trading update on Thursday. Shares have traded within a range between 270p and 290p for the last year. But some in-house refurbishments, like improving cost structures and gross margins, may be just the fix it needs. ETX [...]
Lendlease gets okay for Heygate revamp February 6, 2013 AUSTRALIAN developer Lendlease was yesterday granted detailed planning permission by Southwark council for the first phase of its £1.5bn regeneration of the Heygate estate in Elephant & Castle after winning approval for the masterplan last month. The scheme has caused an outcry from critics after it emerged on Tuesday that Heygate was sold to Lendlease [...]
Travis Perkins slams Osborne over economy February 21, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT needs some radical thinking to get the economy moving, the boss of the country’s biggest supplier of building materials, Travis Perkins said yesterday. “The trouble at the moment is that people are thinking of conventional solutions and I’m afraid we’re not in conventional economic times, so we’ve got to think more radically to [...]
Reiss sales benefit from royal boost January 27, 2013 FASHION chain Reiss said the Duchess of Cambridge’s public appearances in outfits by the brand helped to raise its profile and boost sales last year. The family-owned retailer said total sales excluding franchises rose four per cent to £91.1m in the year to 31 January 2012, up from £87.5m in 2011. Pre-tax profits were flat [...]
Mortgage aid schemes help housebuilder Bellway grow February 7, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway said yesterday demand for its properties is rising, helped by new sales outlets and the government’s NewBuy mortgage scheme for first-time buyers. The firm said it completed sales on 2,597 homes in the six months to the end of January, a rise of 5.8 per cent on last year. The average price has [...]
Esure confirms London float February 27, 2013 INSURER Esure today fired the starting gun on its main market IPO as it announced plans to list up to half of its shares in London next month. The float is understood to value the company at around £1bn. The offer will comprise £50m of new equity, as well as the partial sale of existing [...]
Gold price jumps as Fed chief defends QE policy February 26, 2013 THE PRICE of gold rebounded sharply last night after US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke leapt to the defence of its unprecedented quantitative easing programme. The yellow metal jumped around 1.3 per cent to hit $1,614.11 an ounce in the early hours of this morning. Gold is often seen as a hedge against inflation, which [...]
Cheap money is fuelling the stock market’s dramatic bounce May 10, 2013 FOR the first time ever, the Dow Jones has closed above 15,000, in a major boost for investors everywhere. Remarkably, the index was at 14,000 just 66 days ago and is now up by 129 per cent since the 2009 trough, in a striking demonstration of the speed and scale of the bounce-back. With the [...]
House prices weak as low sales volumes leave market volatile June 7, 2012 HOUSE prices rose in May, figures from Halifax showed yesterday, but remain volatile due to the moribund sales pace in the weak market. Prices rose 0.5 per cent in May, following April’s 2.3 per cent drop and March’s 2.2 per cent jump – volatility driven by the stamp duty holiday for first time buyers which [...]