Things have changed but we’re doing well, says Paragon November 23, 2016 Challenger bank Paragon's shares jumped nearly four per cent in trading this morning after revealing increased profits over what the FTSE 250 lender called a "transitional year". The figures Underlying profit for the 12 months to 30 September rose by 9.1 per cent to £147m from £135m last year, while statutory profit before tax increased by 6.7 per cent to £143m. [...]
Choose Scotland. Choose a high quality of life. November 25, 2016 Scotland is one of the most hauntingly beautiful places in the world, the history is fascinating, the men are handsome and the whisky is delicious. But don't eat the macaroni pies." JK Rowling says it all. (Although she might not be entirely right about the pies.) Scotland is widely-regarded as an outstanding place to live, and that's [...]
City Moves for 17 November 2016 | Who’s switching jobs November 17, 2016 CBRE CBRE, the world's leading real estate adviser, has appointed Lorraine Hughes as a senior director in the UK planning team, based in London. Lorraine joins the firm from Turley. Lorraine specialises in providing commercial planning advice on large and complex central London projects. She has extensive experience advising both private and public sector clients [...]
How gambling and betting companies have taken over the Premier League’s shirts October 8, 2016 Football fans might have noticed a recurring theme on this year's Premier League shirts — gambling. More Premier League teams are sponsored by gambling companies than ever before this season, with exactly half of the division's teams displaying logos for online casinos or bookmakers on their shirts. England's top tier was 10 years old before Fulham became the [...]
City Moves for 8 November 2016 | Who’s switching jobs November 8, 2016 Dechert John Markland and Ross Allardice have joined law firm Dechert as partners in London. John was the founding partner of the London finance practice at Kirkland & Ellis and Ross was a corporate private equity partner at White & Case. John focuses his practice on acquisition finance, debt restructurings and other event-driven finance transactions. Over the course [...]
Permanent TSB completes EU deleveraging plan with sale of second slug of its mortgage book to Cerberus October 27, 2016 The fund that has spent billions hoovering up some of the UK's banks' most distressed mortgage portfolios, today splashed out €2.4bn (£2bn) to snaffle Permanent TSB's Irish housing book. US distressed debt investor Cerberus Capital Management already owns 50 per cent of Capital Home Loans, a subsidiary of Permanent TSB, and this deal completes the part state-owned lender's €8.4bn [...]
Enclothed online stylist review: get someone with better taste than you to post new clothes to your house December 1, 2016 I’m the kind of shopper who ensures menswear will always remain relatively more expensive than womenswear. I don’t enjoy the experience, and therefore do it as little as possible. Once or twice a year, I realise I have nothing seasonally appropriate that wouldn’t cause embarrassment in our office full of hip young gunslingers, and force [...]
Spot gold prices fall to five-and-a-half-month low and edge closer to $1,200 an ounce following US interest rake hike hints November 18, 2016 The price of gold fell to a more than five-month low again this morning, edging closer towards $1,200 an ounce, as US interest rate hints led the dollar to rise against most major currencies. Spot gold prices fell by around one per cent to below $1,205 an ounce this morning, before a slight rebound that took [...]
Central London take ups surge on the back of a number of large deals, CBRE finds December 11, 2016 Central London office take-up in November 2016 rose to 1m sq ft, representing a monthly increase of 118 per cent and bringing take-up in line with the 10-year monthly average, according to the latest figures from real estate consultants CBRE. Take-up in November 2016 was boosted by a number of large deals. A total of [...]
Sports Direct shares fall as it unveils 57 per cent profit hit on weak sterling December 8, 2016 Shares in troubled retailer Sports Direct fell as much as six per cent in early trading, after it revealed pre-tax profits had halved in its first half thanks to weak sterling. Underlying profit before tax dropped 57 per cent to £71.6m from £166.4m, it said, while underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell 33.5 [...]