Countrywide predicts rocky 2015 for property market despite record profits February 26, 2015 The figures The UK's largest estate agent, Countrywide, whose brands include Bairstow Eves, Hamptons and John D Wood, announced a 20 per cent rise in total income to £702.2m in its first year as a publicly listed company. Profit before tax rose 63 per cent to a record level of £102.4m, from £62.9m at the same stage [...]
Focus on Battersea: Home of dogs, cats, families and riverside living March 12, 2015 Battersea’s venerable institutions – from its power station to its Dogs and Cats Home – often overshadow its considerable success as a residential destination. While houses easily soar over the £1m mark in this part of south-west London, UK buyers still account for 76 per cent of the market, 80 per cent of whom use [...]
Tidjane Thiam’s last Prudential results put spotlight on Asia while UK business lags May 6, 2015 Outgoing Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam yesterday said the company was no longer seeking to grow in the US and UK, and would instead focus on expanding in the Asian market. Thiam delivered his last set of results as the head of the insurance group, which detailed the firm’s 22nd consecutive quarter of growth. Sales across [...]
Pound falls as UK inflation stays flat at zero in March April 14, 2015 The pound weakened 0.5 per cent against the dollar to $1.4614 after figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed consumer price inflation stayed flat at zero per cent in March. Although it means the UK has missed slipping into deflation for now, a sustained period of stagnant growth is nevertheless a concern. [...]
Index Ventures backs Daniel Gandesha’s tech start-up Property Partner March 23, 2015 Index Ventures, the venture capital firm behind Just Eat and Candy Crush Saga-maker King Digital, has given £5.2m backing to a crowdfunding platform that allows retail investors to tap into the UK’s residential market. Property Partner, founded by the ex-head of startup investment at BSkyB Daniel Gandesha, gives smaller backers the chance to invest sums [...]
City A.M. partners with Crowdnetic to launch crowdfunding site CityAMCrowdwatch.com March 5, 2015 City A.M. has partnered with Crowdnetic for the launch of its suite of UK crowd finance data. It features information on private UK-based companies publicly raising capital online through securitiesbased crowdfunding portals. Through CityAMCrowdwatch.com, investors can track a comprehensive listing of UK private offerings from leading platforms including Property Moose, Angels Den, Crowd for Angels, Fireflock, [...]
Economic policy must not be made by sound-bite, says Rake March 5, 2015 ECONOMIC policy must not be made by sound-bite, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president, Sir Mike Rake, warned UK politicians last night. Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Trade and Industry Dinner at the Mansion House, Rake said: “As the UK economic situation has improved, the political risks have increased.” Sounding a warning about the fears [...]
Spreadbetter Plus500 bounces higher ahead of crunch shareholder meeting May 26, 2015 Crisis-hit spreadbetter Plus500 won the backing of top shareholder Odey Asset Management yesterday, ahead of a crunch meeting of shareholders today in London. An Odey fund run by James Hanbury added another tranche of shares to its holdings, taking the company’s ownership of the firm past 19 per cent, amid a broad-based rally in [...]
“Toxic” General Election to hit pound hard: Experts predict sterling will slump in value – but traders can profit April 21, 2015 Election uncertainty has begun to take its toll on sterling. After the leaders’ debate last week – which appeared to make the prospect of a coalition government less likely – the pound weakened. Since the start of the year, the pound has fallen 4.4 per cent versus the dollar, and now some strategists are predicting [...]
Sinking supermarkets: Tesco has had a disastrous year. Can it recover? June 18, 2015 The UK’s supermarkets were once investment darlings. The likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s emerged on the stock markets, radically changed our shopping habits and then rose to dominance on the FTSE 100. But times have changed, and the supermarkets have been down on their luck. Are they still worthwhile investments? “Part of the [...]