The devil you know, the devil you don’t: How to protect your investments whoever wins the US election October 25, 2016 As polling day draws near, it is regrettable that the contest to become the 45th President of the United States has been more about personality than policy. The campaign has been distinguished on one side by preposterous promises to suspend the entry of Muslims into the country and build a hard border with Mexico, and [...]
Jeremy Corbyn says he will hike business taxes to fund a new education service September 28, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has offered “a new settlement” to British businesses, warning he will increase taxes to fund a new National Education Service. Addressing the Labour party conference, Corbyn said Labour would raise taxes, adding to a previous plan to raise corporation tax to fund a new Education Maintenance Allowance. However, he added that [...]
Is China’s toxic debt pile the greatest threat the global economy faces? September 26, 2016 Mike Jakeman, global analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, says Yes. The Chinese government has already performed one economic miracle – in the 30 years from 1980, it pulled almost 700m people out of extreme poverty. Now it requires another – to wean its fattened economy off a diet of public investment and onto helpings of household [...]
The government’s public land sell-off for new homes is not running to schedule, according to the National Audit Office July 12, 2016 The government's plan to release enough public land to build 160,000 homes is not running on schedule, a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has claimed today. The government has only sold land with capacity for 8,580 homes – and it needs to release the land for 160,000 new homes by 2020. Read more: Can [...]
Air Astana to outline plans for London IPO September 19, 2016 Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana will detail plans for its initial public offering today, with London in line to be chosen for a secondary listing. In a presentation today it’s expected the company will outline how much of it will be sold. The IPO is currently scheduled for between October next year and October 2018. [...]
Forget baby boomers and millennials, it’s Generation X that’s shaping the fate of companies in Europe August 26, 2016 Sandwiched between the headline-grabbing millennials and baby boomers, Generation X is sometimes overlooked. But according to Hugo Scott-Gall of Goldman Sachs Research, understanding what drives the decisions of the group born between 1965 and 1980 is essential, not least because the cohort has hit its peak spending power and accounts for over 25 per cent [...]
Q&A: The challenges faced by SME exporters November 3, 2016 Encouraging small British firms to sell their goods and services overseas is a key plank of government policy, and there is now a range of organisations devoted to helping them do just that. Official figures, however, show that only 5 to 10 per cent of UK SMEs are currently engaged in export. We spoke with Allan [...]
Focus On Croydon: The affordable South London hotspot that’s getting a £1bn facelift January 8, 2016 If there’s one thing we learnt from the London property market in 2015, it was not to underestimate the outer boroughs. Some of the largest house price growth increases were to be found in these supposed backwaters. Growth in places like Haringey and Hillingdon far outstripped traditionally prime areas like Kensington & Chelsea and Camden, [...]
City passporting rights deal “unachievable” in Brexit negotiations, warns top EU financial lawyer November 2, 2016 The UK is unlikely to be able to secure passporting rights during Brexit negotiations, a top EU financial lawyer has warned in a report. In its Blueprint for Brexit paper, think tank Politeia said preserving so-called passporting rights for financial services at all costs should not be prioritised by UK negotiators as it is not achievable. Passporting allows financial services [...]
Brickgate: A war is kicking off in the construction industry after estate agents claimed there is a shortage of bricks August 25, 2016 Forget Jeremy Corbyn versus Owen Smith – there's a new feud in town. You might say relations between these two are rather stony… Brick makers have taken issue with research put out earlier today by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), which suggested not only [...]