WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 9, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GARDNER TO TAKE CONNAUGHT ROLE Connaught will today announce Sir Roy Gardner as its new non-executive chairman in a move the social housing maintainance group hopes will stabilise the business after a turbulent six months. The group, which mends leaky pipes in council houses and sweeps roads, was hit by the sudden resignation [...]
Permira eyes Findus Italy April 5, 2010 PRIVATE equity house Permira is poised to make a takeover bid for Unilever’s Italian frozen food business Findus Italy. Unilever is expected to formally announce the sale of Findus towards mid-April, with Permira looking at making a bid for the Italian business, which is currently priced between €500m-€800m (£444m-£710m). Permira, which bought frozen food brands [...]
At a glance: All the crucial points from Osborne’s emergency Budget June 22, 2010 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES • The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published fresh forecasts in light of the measures announced yesterday by chancellor George Osborne. • GDP growth will be 1.2 per cent in 2010, accelerating to 2.3 per cent in 2011, 2.8 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013. The pace of [...]
At a glance: All the crucial points from Osborne’s emergency Budget June 22, 2010 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES • The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published fresh forecasts in light of the measures announced yesterday by chancellor George Osborne. • GDP growth will be 1.2 per cent in 2010, accelerating to 2.3 per cent in 2011, 2.8 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013. The pace of [...]
House prices fall due to extra supply March 8, 2010 AN INFLUX of properties onto the market last month has depressed house prices, the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will say today. Its monthly survey showed a net 17 per cent of estate agents reporting rising rather than falling prices, much less than January’s 31 per cent. Both new buyer enquiries and new instructions [...]
Barratt in housing market boost February 24, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments saw its losses narrow in the second half of the year as the housing market showed further signs of finding its feet. Pre-tax losses came in at £178.4m compared to a loss of £594.5m a year earlier. However, it took a £129.9m hit from finance costs following its £720m placing and rights [...]
Housing market dips on stamp duty return March 4, 2010 THE housing market recovery hit a stumbling block in February as poor weather, more properties being put up for sale and the end of the stamp duty holiday took their toll. House prices dropped 1.5 per cent last month, taking the value of the average home down to £166,587, according to the latest data from [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]
UK housing recovery running out of steam March 4, 2010 THERE were yet further concerns yesterday over a double-dip downturn in the UK housing market when mortgage lender Halifax reported that house prices fell 1.5 per cent in February, the first decline in this index since last June. The survey, which comes just days after Nationwide reported that UK property prices fell one per cent, [...]
ACTOR KEVIN SPACEY ENJOYS A RETURN TO THE TRADING FLOOR June 23, 2010 ACTOR and Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey is becoming quite the dab hand on the trading floor, if reports from our Stateside friends are to be believed. Bankers at Citigroup in New York were astonished last week when Spacey popped into their offices to do a spot of research for his new movie, Margin [...]