Autumn Statement 2015: Fiscal watchdog spares Osborne’s blushes November 25, 2015 The government's fiscal watchdog gave chancellor George Osborne a huge boost yesterday, allowing him to escape the tax credits fiasco without it getting in the way of his plans to cut borrowing. Government borrowing looked like it was going to overshoot the £69.5bn target in the 12 months ending March and many believed Osborne would be [...]
Resurgence in British office market fuels record profits at Knight Frank October 5, 2015 LONDON’S booming office market combined with a recovery in the regions helped estate agent Knight Frank to post record full-year results. The company, which is owned by its partners and has 370 offices across the world, said profit before tax rose by 19 per cent to £162m in the year to 31 March, while turnover [...]
Responsible investing: Do bonds that make the world a better place fit into your portfolio? October 1, 2015 When the return on traditional bonds is so low, why not invest in ones that make society better? The UK was once home to a thriving social bond market, where investors of all stripes clubbed together to fund socially beneficial projects. The 1960s was the heyday of loaning money to local authorities, and in [...]
Former housing ministers Mark Prisk and Nick Raynsford call for 2.5m more houses by 2025 January 28, 2015 The government needs to do more to encourage house building, two former housing ministers have said. The Lloyds Banking Group Commission on Housing released yesterday outlines a programme to tackle the shortage of new homes. “The UK housing market is facing a range of interlocking problems relating to the general shortage and quality of new [...]
Uber’s UK sales are soaring after winning a legal battle in the High Court against black cab drivers October 18, 2015 It seems court battles aren’t standing in the way of Uber’s growth. After Uber’s landmark victory over black cab drivers on Friday, there’s more good news for the ride-hailing app: UK sales are up tenfold in the past year. British turnover soared to £11.3m last year, according to data from Companies House. The app’s accelerating [...]
At the close: Mining companies Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton take FTSE 100 higher November 4, 2015 The FTSE 100 ended Wednesday's session slightly higher, led by gains in mining companies. The UK's top blue chip index ended the day 0.46 per cent up at 6,412 points. The day's biggest riser was Glencore, the embattled mining giant, which has been struggling to reassure investors worried about the size of its debt pile. It today announced a [...]
How the Northern Powerhouse could boost SMEs – Investec Comment November 8, 2015 Critics of the chancellor's ambition to create a Northern Powerhouse often dismiss the idea as a gimmick. The challenge of rebalancing the UK economy is certainly immense. A recent report by the Centre of Cities showed that gross value added per worker in 2013 in the areas covered by the Northern Powerhouse was 13 per [...]
Best of the Brokers for 22 September 2015 September 22, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BAE SYSTEM Haitong Research have maintained their “buy” rating for BAE Systems, despite their earnings forecasts for 2015 and 2016 falling by seven and eight per cent respectively. The earnings downgrade came after analysts reduced their Eurofighter build rate assumption for 2016 from [...]
London house prices: You’ll need to earn £77k each year to afford one of David Cameron’s starter homes October 7, 2015 Housing groups have called out Prime Minister David Cameron's new plans to accelerate the building of discounted properties for first-time home buyers, saying the government's so-called starter homes will still be out-of-reach for most workers. In his speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester today, Cameron announced the government’s proposed “starter homes” initiative, which will be part [...]
Shared Ownership Week: So what is it anyway? October 5, 2015 Like the sound of Shared Ownership, but not sure how it works? Katie Bond, director of housing association Notting Hill Home Ownership (NHHO), is here to set the record straight for Shared Ownership Week (5-11 October). What is a Shared Ownership scheme and who is it meant to help? Shared Ownership is where you [...]