London Report: FTSE suffers its sharpest daily fall in a month April 7, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index had its biggest one-day decline in a month yesterday, retreating from a three-week high as a drop by housebuilders weighed on the market. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which rose 0.7 per cent on Friday to reach its highest point in around three weeks, closed down by 1.1 per cent, or [...]
Barclays cleans up with bad bank April 29, 2014 BARCLAYS will next week set up a bad bank to run down its weakest business lines as it grapples to turn its sprawling financial empire into a sustainably profitable business. Investment banking co-head Eric Bommensath will the run the bad bank, kicking off a series of major job changes on the way as part of [...]
UK’s wet weather slows house building but means more maintenance work March 4, 2014 The pace of activity in the UK construction sector eased back a touch in February but output still increased for the tenth month in a row, with the purchasing managers’ index for the month at 62.6. Analysts had been expected a fall to 63.0 from 64.6 – January’s very strong reading, which was a 77-month [...]
L&G provides debt for 500 homes February 18, 2014 Legal & General (L&G) has agreed to provide one of London’s largest housing associations with a £40m loan as part of its expansion into the UK housing sector. The insurer, which already has a strong presence in housing through its co-ownership of Cala Homes, said the 25-year loan to Thames Valley Housing Association would help [...]
Letters to the Editor – 14/04 – Let the people vote, Housing bank, Best of Twitter April 14, 2014 Let the people vote [Re: Let voters kick out MPs between elections and watch standards soar, Thursday] The right to recall is a vital addition to Britain’s democratic toolkit. Some argue that it would mark the end of representative democracy – our MPs would become delegates, following the whim of public opinion. But who can [...]
Saint-Gobain upbeat for 2014 February 19, 2014 Building materials supplier Saint-Gobain said yesterday it expected a rebound in operating profit in 2014 after net income fell by 14.1 per cent last year. Europe’s biggest sector player is planning to make additional cost savings in 2014-2015 and is eyeing €4bn (£3.3bn) of acquisitions through 2018 as part of a strategy to focus on [...]
The new machine age: Britain must not miss out on the robot revolution June 23, 2014 MORE and more people are concerned about a wave of robots stealing their jobs. But for Britain, there’s a more pressing concern: what if the robot economy doesn’t arrive here at all? For a while now, pundits have been speculating that robots, self-driving cars and clever algorithms will take many of the jobs now done [...]
London Report: FTSE climbs to its highest close since late 1999 May 13, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index hit its highest closing level since December 1999 yesterday, led by housebuilding stocks, with technical analysts betting the broader market could push on further still. The FTSE 100 ended up 21.33 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 6,873.08 points. Forex.com technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada reckoned there was scope for the index [...]
Full service: The & Partnership boss Johnny Hornby on changes in marketing June 16, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud talks to Johnny Hornby, chief executive of The & Partnership It's easy to forget that media buyers and creative agencies haven’t long existed as separate entities. As late as the 1980s, the archetypal agency was “full service”, overseeing all aspects of a campaign. Johnny Hornby, chief executive and founding partner of new agency [...]
Standard Life swoops for City fund firm Ignis March 24, 2014 STANDARD Life is on the verge of clinching a £400m deal to buy City funds group Ignis Asset Management, the latest tie-up in a wave of consolidations. The Scottish insurer, which runs £184bn through its Standard Life Investments brand, confirmed last night it was in exclusive talks with Ignis’ FTSE-listed owner Phoenix Group. The deal, [...]