What Brexit? House prices inched up in July July 28, 2016 Brexit, what Brexit? The property market defied the uncertainty of the EU referendum result – for now – new data reveals. The full impact on the housing market has yet to be felt as prices edged up ever so slightly in July, according to Nationwide. Read more: Property shares are sliding after downbeat house price forecasts Property [...]
How one buccaneering family dominated the UK scampi market October 20, 2016 "At the tender age of 32, I got involved in buying assets from the receivership of what was the Whitby Shellfish Company”, says Graham Whittle, founder of Whitby Seafoods. From relatively humble beginnings, in just over thirty years, the business has gone from one that was sinking to the biggest producer of scampi in the UK, [...]
People don’t trust their banks – but capital assurance could change this November 15, 2016 People still don’t trust banks. Post-crisis reforms aimed at improving their reporting, conduct and culture, while increasing resilience, are all now well into their implementation phases. But past scandals, whether to do with mis-selling or improper behaviour, are still affecting banks’ profits, with large fines and even bigger customer settlements. And public perceptions continue to [...]
We all have lessons to learn from Trump’s shock victory November 17, 2016 Nobody was talking about Wisconsin. There were murmurs about Michigan. There were questions about voter turnout in rural areas of Pennsylvania compared to the cities. Keep in mind, these debates weren’t reflected in the polls; pollsters were almost unanimously calling the election for Hillary Clinton the morning of 8 November. All talk of upsets was [...]
Bank shares and stress tests: the value investor’s verdict December 8, 2016 The Bank of England’s latest stress tests of the UK banking system attracted many column inches of space in the newspapers last week. The aim was to calculate whether these institutions would have enough capital to withstand certain grim scenarios. Moving away from some of the inflammatory headlines, it is worth looking in more [...]
Bank shares and stress tests: the value investor’s verdict December 8, 2016 The Bank of England’s latest stress tests of the UK banking system attracted many column inches of space in the newspapers last week. The aim was to calculate whether these institutions would have enough capital to withstand certain grim scenarios. Moving away from some of the inflammatory headlines, it is worth looking in more detail [...]
How far will Trump’s war on climate change go? November 17, 2016 In a world of post-truth democracy, it is fitting that President-elect Donald Trump's new director of the Centre for Energy and Environment “is not a climate scientist. I'm just… the informed layman.” It would be truly fascinating and terrifying to take a peek at what Myron Ebell is reading. On the one hand, he believes [...]
These 8 British companies will get a huge boost from sterling’s crash against the euro October 13, 2016 On Tuesday, the FTSE 100 surged to its record high of 7,128 points, boosted massively by the crash in the pound that has seen Britain's currency fall more than 17 per cent since the vote to leave the European Union. The index is full of mining companies, oil firms, and pharmaceutical giants that use the UK [...]
New homes on sale in London: from riverside homes in Woolwich to an old furniture factory in Hackney October 7, 2016 Royal Arsenal Riverside, Woolwich From £422,500 The first homes with a view of the river are on sale at Berkeley Homes’ new scheme. The 20-storey building also overlook a new four-acre Waterside Park that connects Woolwich Town centre to the river path. In total, there are 266 studio to three bedroom flats on sale at [...]
Let Nicola Sturgeon have her referendum – and find out that a Hard Brexit is better than a Hard Independence October 17, 2016 It could not have been staged better. Like a general on the battlefield making a final appeal to her troops, Nicola Sturgeon’s use of the SNP’s annual conference to announce the publication of a draft bill to pave the way for Indy Ref Two could not be matched. The legions cheered, ready to go over the top [...]