Budget 2015: The stories that broke during George Osborne’s speech March 18, 2015 The announcement of the UK government’s annual budget is one of the biggest dates in the financial calendar. City hacks' ears were tuned into George Osborne’s speech this lunchtime, as eyes were glued to Twitter for all the breaking hot takes on the chancellor’s tie colour and fingers were madly typing away to produce a [...]
Retailers’ woes in focus after a festive slump – London week ahead January 4, 2015 RETAILERS’ woes will be centre stage this week as J Sainsbury, Tesco, WM Morrison and Marks & Spencer update the market after what is expected to have been a relative slump in trading over the festive season. Tesco’s trading announcement on Thursday will be of particular interest, as new chief executive Dave Lewis will outline [...]
Cinven strikes a £460m deal for Premium Credit January 13, 2015 Private equity firm Cinven yesterday clinched a £462m takeover of lender Premium Credit, adding another outfit to its growing list of financial services portfolio companies in Europe. Premium Credit, which lends to consumers and small and medium sized businesses, is led by former McKinsey stalwart Andrew Doman and employs about 300 people at its [...]
Let’s get ethical: Abundance’s Bruce Davis on what crowdfunding is offering investors with a conscience March 18, 2015 Are we becoming more ethically aware when making investments? According to recent research conducted for Triodos Bank, more than one in 10 Brits say that they plan to remove any investments they hold involving fossil fuels over the next 12 months. And among 18 to 34-year olds, the proportion rises to 40 per cent. But [...]
How London’s brutalist Centre Point tower is being turned into luxury flats with a view January 26, 2015 Both reviled and admired, London’s Centre Point tower at the east end of Oxford Street has stirred controversy ever since it was first erected in 1966. A beehive of concrete and glass, its brutalist-style was regarded as an eyesore on the skyline and the fact that a building of its height (it is 117 metres [...]
High season at Ten Trinity Square: Architect Suzette Vela Burkett on restoring a grand Tower Hill landmark April 23, 2015 One of the city’s finest buildings, Ten Trinity Square, is set to re-open at the end of 2016 as a Four Seasons Hotel, with luxury residences on top. It was opened by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1922 as the Port of London Authority and it took 11 years to build. It also hosted [...]
City warns of triple threat to its future as European immigration tensions mount January 4, 2015 Boris Johnson and businesses across London are on a collision course with the government over European immigration, as a new report warns that turning away talented workers will hurt Britain. Increasingly harsh anti-immigrant and anti-EU rhetoric is putting talented European and global workers and entrepreneurs off coming to the UK, according to the report from [...]
Zoopla share price rises as it shrugs off the threat from Agents’ Mutual November 25, 2014 Shares at online property giant Zoopla rose 2.6 per cent as the market opened, after the company said full-year revenues had soared on the back of rising visits to the website, and as the company dismissed threats from a rival platform. The property group, which is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), [...]
Credit conditions make recovery January 6, 2015 CREDIT availability improved from October to December last year, according to survey figures released by the Bank of England yesterday. This contrasts with the plummet in availability from July to September. The net balance of lenders – the percentage of those saying “more” minus the percentage saying “less” – saying availability of credit to households [...]
Spending is on the rise as housing costs more than ever December 2, 2014 Household spending is at its highest since 2010, according to the latest official figures, with more money being spent on housing than ever before. The average UK household spending was £517.30 a week in 2013, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up from an all time low of £501 the previous year and [...]