Taylor Wimpey says housebuilding bouncing back September 19, 2011 Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said sales rates in recent weeks have been encouraging, as the industry has benefited from a seasonal surge in home buying activity, and added it is on track to deliver on margin targets. The country’s second largest builder by market value said net sales rates so far in the second half are [...]
LUNCH PRICES HIKED TO HIGHLIGHT PROBLEMS FACED BY THIRD WORLD October 12, 2011 LONDONERS may be accustomed to signing away the vast majority of their pay packet on the capital’s rising rents, but what if everyday food was as much of an outlay, accounting for 50 to 80 per cent of income every month? That’s what the Red Cross is hoping to highlight as it takes over popular [...]
MEGA-BRAND ADDS BANKING TO ITS WIDE RANGING INTERESTS November 17, 2011 VIRGIN MONEY With the purchase of 74 Northern Rock branches, the Virgin Money brand has just got a whole lot bigger. It already has a banking licence, having purchased Church House Trust, a tiny bank, in January 2010. It offers credit cards in conjunction with MBNA; mortgages in a joint venture with RBS-backed The One [...]
Greek referendum bombshell hits markets November 1, 2011 Markets were plunged into renewed gloom today as Greece sent shockwaves through the Eurozone by announcing that it would hold a referendum on the bloc’s action plan to tackle the debt crisis. The renewed uncertainty hit banks while commodities were also dented by disappointing manufacturing data out of China. Meanwhile the Office for National Statistics [...]
Aldi revenues up as shoppers eye deals October 4, 2011 PROFITS at Aldi have jumped as British shoppers increasingly hunting for ways to cut their shopping bills. Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl have stolen market share from the likes of Tesco, as “the squeezed middle” – which Tesco believes constitutes 80 per cent of its customer base – look to cut down on household expenditures. [...]
Gloomy outlook getting worse as confidence falls September 25, 2011 CONFIDENCE data from around Europe will be released over the course of this week, with analysts expecting the worst. Figures to be announced in the UK include the Confederation for British Industry’s (CBI) distributive trades survey, out tomorrow, which measures short-term trends in UK retail and distribution. Weak or falling sales are expected by economists. [...]
FREUD AUCTION SET TO BUCK ECONOMIC GLOOM September 12, 2011 LUCIEN Freud’s 1952 painting Boy’s Head is set to prove that art is still seen as a worthwhile investment when it goes on sale at Sotheby’s later this month, expected to fetch up to £4m. Earlier this year, the Bond Street-based auction house posted record sales of $3.4bn (£2.15bn) for the first half of 2011. [...]
Bank reveals weak lending on mortgages May 4, 2011 SLUGGISH mortgage lending and stuttering house prices continue to haunt the UK’s housing market, a series of data releases showed yesterday. Mortgage lending grew by just £400m in March, the Bank of England revealed – below increases of £1bn and £1.7bn in the two previous months, and an average jump of £800m over the last [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 18, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES FACEBOOK SET FOR SUIT OVER US PUBLICITY LAWS Facebook’s practice of showing people that their friends “like” specific products could run afoul of a California law that gives both celebrities and ordinary citizens the right to control how their names and pictures are used for commercial endorsements. A federal judge in San Jose [...]
US new home sales fall to six-month low September 26, 2011 New single-family home sales in the US fell to a six-month low in August in a sign the crippled housing market will not provide much support for the flagging economy any time soon. The US Commerce Department said sales slipped 2.3 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 295,000-unit annual rate. The reading was in line [...]