Investment into Europe property hits record high March 10, 2014 INVESTORS from outside of Europe spent a record €36bn (£30bn) on European real estate last year, with US, Asian and Middle Eastern investors leading the charge. According to research released today by DTZ at Mipim, the property’s industry annual conference in Cannes, this represented a 26 per cent share of total volumes invested across the [...]
The Bank has put the brakes on Funding for Lending – Why not on Help to Buy? November 28, 2013 Threats of an overheating housing market have reached Threadneedle Street, and they're cutting out the mortgage incentives from the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). This morning Bank of England governor Mark Carney said that "risks to financial stability may grow if there are further substantial and rapid increases in house prices". FLS was launched at [...]
The Power of Three: How big business could join government to support small companies March 10, 2014 IF I received a pound for every time a chief executive of a large firm said to me “we’d like to be the champions of small business”, I’d be comfortably off. However, over the past year, I’ve seen an increasing number of businesses not only voicing this statement, but acting on it. This is a [...]
Record sales lift Poundland float prospects January 23, 2014 POUNDLAND has boasted record sales over the key Christmas trading period, further paving the way for a potential initial public offering (IPO), expected to take place within the coming months. The bargain chain, which plans to double its UK presence over the next decade, said new shop openings helped sales rise more than 12.4 per [...]
Britain set to boom as global economy slows November 19, 2013 THE UK will defy the weak global economic trend next year as the recovery takes hold in Britain, analysts at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted yesterday. The world’s economy will only grow by 2.7 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent next year, the think-tank said – slashing 0.4 percentage [...]
Wafer-thin and mint February 6, 2014 Piaget earns its place in the record books with the ultra-thin 900P Piaget’s Altiplano 900P slipped into the record books at SIHH this year, becoming the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. At just 3.65mm deep, it’s a whole 0.4mm thinner than the previous record-holder, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Ultra-Thin Jubilée. In the business of skin-tight watches, that’s miles. [...]
Private equity firms shun big ticket deals for British business December 5, 2013 PRIVATE equity firms’ investment in British businesses fell 30 per cent this year, despite signs of an uptick in the economy Buyout firms spent £13.9bn buying UK firms between January and November, down on the £20.4bn spent in the same period in 2012. The figures, from Mergermarket, reflect a trend for smaller individual deals, given [...]
London asking prices to hit record levels in 2014 December 15, 2013 INITIAL asking prices for London homes are set to rise by six per cent next year, a slowdown on 2013 but still taking London prices to new all-time records, new research out today shows. According to Rightmove’s latest house price index, the average price of property coming to market in London is up by 10.6 [...]
Get yourself connected January 22, 2014 We take a look at the gadgets giving a whole new meaning to “home computer” LG Smart TV, from £549 The LG SmartTV can live-stream, browse the web, Skype, and access GameWorld and the Android App Store. Watch two football matches side-by-side in real time on the split screen, gasp at special effects in 3D, [...]
What you need to know before the open – 18/12 December 18, 2013 Today is the day the Fed's Open Market Committee makes a decision on whether to trim back its quantitative easing programme. The tapering debate has rattled on for almost eight months now, with uncertainty persistently subduing the markets. Robust economic data has left many questioning the likelihood of a December (as opposed to a March [...]