ECONOMIC DIARY February 7, 2010 AFTER the Bank of England announced that it would be pausing, at least for now, its quantitative easing policy, the big event in the UK this week will be the quarterly inflation report on Wednesday morning. The Bank is expected to revise down its growth forecast while revising up its inflation predictions and will give [...]
Why strategic downsizing is on the up these days January 21, 2010 EVERYBODY’S doing it. Not smoking or breaking their New Year’s resolutions – though there’s a fair bit of that going on too – but downsizing. Sue Laming, of Savills, says: “Finally, there’s decent value in the market. Nobody’s getting short-changed. Only 18 months ago there was virtually no downsizing, only distress sales. But now that [...]
US home sales lose tax boost January 25, 2010 SALES of previously owned US homes fell at the fastest pace on record last month as the boost from a popular tax credit faded, industry data showed yesterday. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said existing home sales fell 16.7 per cent to an annual rate of 5.45m units in December. Analysts had expected a [...]
High demand keeps house prices rising January 11, 2010 BRITONS’ unflagging demand for property is continuing to boost house prices, albeit at a slower pace than before, the latest monthly survey from the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will say today. The balance of estate agents reporting rising rather than falling prices fell back to 30 per cent in the three months to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BEEF PRICE SURGES FOLLOWING HARSH US WINTER Beef prices are soaring after cattle failed to fatten up during the harsh US winter and cash-strapped ranchers culled herds to cope with the recession. Cattle futures have risen more than 20 per cent since December and are again flirting with $1 a pound, a milestone [...]
Retail sales figures “disappointing” January 22, 2010 RETAIL sales volumes rose by much less than expected in December as a large rise in prices deterred shoppers from splashing out over Christmas, official figures have shown. The Office for National Statistics said the figure rose just 0.3 percent last month, less than the 1.1 percent analysts had expected and the weakest for the [...]
House prices continue to strengthen in December January 7, 2010 HOUSE prices in the UK recorded their sixth consecutive monthly rise in December, data from the Halifax showed yesterday, though the mortgage lender expects prices to plateau over the rest of 2010. Prices rallied one per cent between November and December, bringing the cost of the average UK home to £169,042. December also saw house [...]
Catalyst February 1, 2010 Steve Currie advised on the £44m sale of Minivator from Gresham to Handicare. He is a partner at finance house Catalyst and has over 15 years’ corporate finance experience working at private equity and corporate advisory firms. He recently advised on the management buyout at Farrow & Ball, which was funded by European Capital. He [...]
Economic Diary January 24, 2010 MARKETS are expecting a bumpy ride this week with a slew of data that could derail momentum. Britons are eagerly awaiting the release of fourth quarter GDP tomorrow, which should show that the UK finally exited recession in the last three months of 2009. The consensus forecast is for output growth of 0.4 per cent. [...]
Banks boost FTSE on hopes that RBS results bring cheer February 24, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares rose 0.5 per cent yesterday, led by banks and echoing gains on Wall Street as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke assuaged fears of an earlier than expected interest rate rise. The FTSE 100 ended 27.83 points higher at 5,342.92 buoyed by the Fed chairman’s statement and after it had closed 0.7 [...]