Bellway to raise dividend after profit surge March 24, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway will raise its dividend after reporting healthy first half profits. The firm, Britain’s fifth largest housebuilder by market value, made £19m in the six months to the end of January, compared with a loss of £48.6m in the same period the year before. It completed sales of 2,247 homes compared with 2,014 – [...]
GOLDMAN EXECUTIVES KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY May 5, 2010 A RIFLE through the proxy statement issued by Goldman Sachs to its shareholders ahead of tomorrow’s general meeting throws the spotlight firmly back on compensation – and it seems the firm’s executives aren’t the only ones being scrutinised. That’s right – not only are investors being asked to give their thoughts on the pay packages [...]
Grosvenor hit by £500m fall in its portfolio April 15, 2010 THE value of the Duke of Westminster’s property portfolio slumped by £500m last year, following plummeting housing prices during the recession. His property group, Grosvenor, which is renowned for its ownership of palatial properties in Belgravia and Mayfair, saw the value of its estate tumble to £5.22bn from £6.17bn in 2008. The group reported a [...]
Economic Diary March 7, 2010 IT IS a busy week ahead on the economics front once again. While last week was dominated by central bank decisions from across the world and independent surveys, this week we will see a slew of statistics that may or may not confirm rebounding consumer confidence and output. UK February Sales figures due In the [...]
Mortgage approvals on the slide March 1, 2010 THE number of mortgage approvals in January plummeted by 17 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to official figures. Data from the Bank of England revealed that the number of home loans approved for house purchases in January fell by 17 per cent compared with the previous month. However, the 48,198 [...]
Savills staff to get £60m bonus payout March 18, 2010 PROPERTY agent Savills is planning a payment of around £60m for staff after a recovery in the UK residential housing market. Savills’ estate agency arm doubled its profit to £6.3m in 2009 with the London market in particular bouncing back. However, pre-tax profit plummeted by almost a quarter across all the company’s operations, including its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES POKER PROVES TOUGH GAMBLE FOR 888 888 Holdings took a near 30 per cent hit on poker revenues last year, but the online gambling operator said it was confident of tapping into its well of social players and predicted a return to poker growth in the second half of 2010. Poker was the [...]
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON IN THE WORLD OF SPIN June 17, 2010 TO THE Kensington home of City slicker Roland Rudd, the boss of PR firm Finsbury, last night for his annual party, one of the highlights of the summer schmoozing circuit. Grandees of the worlds of business and politics were there in their droves for the event, including WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell; Royal Bank of [...]
Champagne sales down but Brits still hit bottle March 15, 2010 IMPORTS of champagne plunged by 5m bottles last year as Britons turned to alternatives such as cava and prosecco. The 15 per cent slump from 35.98 to 30.52m bottles was the lowest since 2002. With the fall in sterling, importers were hit and the recession also took its toll on customers. At the same time, [...]
The chicest way to buy and sell March 21, 2010 TARA Nash-King does something most women would find difficult at best, and impossible at worst. She lives in a showroom, and the cascades of bags, shoes and clothes that greet you on entering her mews house in Westbourne Park are not her own. They are the perfectly placed, impeccably hung and ubiquitously photographed desiger items she [...]