London & Stamford stock to move to main market August 5, 2010 AIM-LISTED property investor London & Stamford is seeking shareholder approval for a switch to London’s senior stock market as part of a plan to adopt tax-efficient REIT status. The Guernsey-based company, set up by veteran real estate entrepreneurs Raymond Mould, Patrick Vaughan and Humphrey Price, was formed in October 2007 to snare discounted properties after [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CRIMINAL GANGS TARGET INSIDER DEALING Organised criminals in the UK are becoming increasingly involved in financial frauds including insider share dealing that they see as lucrative and low risk, investigators have warned. A long-term trend of prosecutions in the US has shown the same shift by crime gangs to more sophisticated frauds. FUNDING [...]
Alan Sugar puts his £120m Mayfair properties up for sale July 25, 2010 LORD Alan Sugar’s real estate firm is to sell off three properties in Mayfair, with a pre-crisis price-tag of £120m. Amsprop, managed by Lord Sugar’s son Daniel, has decided to finally cash in on climbing property values in the West End after several offers in recent months. Daniel Sugar said: “We have received unsolicited approaches [...]
House prices rise 0.1 per cent in June June 30, 2010 HOUSE prices rose by 0.1 per cent in June, according to the Nationwide building society. The average property price in the UK is now more than £170,000. Prices have risen by three per cent since the start of the year, the lender’s house price index showed. But the rate of annual house price inflation fell [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCLAYS OFFLOADS LOANS IN STRUGGLING CONNAUGHT Lenders to Connaught have started selling their loans to the company, in a sign of their concern about the state of the embattled social housing maintenance group. Barclays, one of Connaught’s syndicate of banks, which is led by Royal Bank of Scotland, on Monday night sold its [...]
FRAGILE US IS STILL RELIANT ON STIMULUS August 2, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT THE tension in the tug-of-war between equity bulls and bears cranked up a few notches last week. Initially, results from the second quarter earnings season boosted stocks since the majority of firms that have so far reported released better-than-expected numbers. But as the week drew to a close, doubts appeared to [...]
SCALE BACK EXPOSURE ON THE BOUNCE July 19, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT This is a big week for the markets with traders forced to consider the potential effects of a number of major events. Looking at the US, we get deeper into the second quarter earnings season with over 500 companies to report – up from less than 100 last week. The interpretation [...]
SCALE BACK EXPOSURE ON THE BOUNCE July 19, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT This is a big week for the markets with traders forced to consider the potential effects of a number of major events. Looking at the US, we get deeper into the second quarter earnings season with over 500 companies to report – up from less than 100 last week. The interpretation [...]
Pru hires City fixer as profit eases tension August 12, 2010 PRUDENTIAL has hired a troubleshooter to help repair its tattered relations with City investors after the collapse of its $35.5bn (£22bn) attempt to buy AIG’s Asian arm. After a wave of criticism over its handling of shareholders, the FTSE 100 titan has poached insurance industry veteran Steve Riley from Clive Cowdery’s Resolution business. Riley started [...]
Girl power: what makes the perfect bachelorette pad September 16, 2010 AS the number of high-earning single women purchasing property steadily rises, it’s fair to say we’ve entered the age of the bachelorette pad. “There has been a 15 per cent increase in the number of girls buying property alone in London over the last five years,” says George Franks, sales director of Douglas & Gordon [...]