UK’s million pound home sales surge May 2, 2011 SALES of properties worth over £1m have shot up at the fastest rate in four years, research by Lloyds TSB showed yesterday. Million pound house sales numbered 7,185 last year, up 54 per cent from 2009. “This is the largest annual increase since 2006 and suggests a real resurgence at the very top end of [...]
UK’s million pound home sales surge May 2, 2011 SALES of properties worth over £1m have shot up at the fastest rate in four years, research by Lloyds TSB showed yesterday. Million pound house sales numbered 7,185 last year, up 54 per cent from 2009. “This is the largest annual increase since 2006 and suggests a real resurgence at the very top end of [...]
JPMorgan profit beats forecasts July 14, 2011 JPMorgan Chase & Co posted a higher-than-expected jump in second-quarter profit as it wrote off fewer bad mortgages and credit card loans. The bank managed to make more loans during the quarter than in the first quarter and added staff, signs that bright spots are emerging in a sector long plagued by credit losses and [...]
Landlords bullish on the future of rental properties June 1, 2011 DESPITE the downbeat outlook on house prices from analysts at Morgan Stanley (see left), UK landlords are increasingly optimistic about their buy-to-let prospects. Forty-nine per cent of landlords think that now is a good time to invest in new properties, according to research by LSL Property Services. Just one per cent are looking at reducing [...]
GENERATION RENT May 31, 2011 A GENERATION of Britons fear being squeezed out of the property market and doomed to a lifetime of renting, a survey reveals today. Nearly two thirds of 20 to 45 year olds who do not already have a mortgage say “they have no prospect whatsoever of buying a home,” according to a report by the [...]
Odeon buys Irish cinemas for £60m June 1, 2011 ODEON & UCI, the cinema chain owned by Guy Hands’ private equity house Terra Firma, bought nine cinemas in Ireland and two build sites for new complexes for £60m yesterday. The chain used some of the proceeds of its recent £500m bond issue on the purchase, which will add 77 new screens to its Ireland [...]
FTSE up but investors jittery over Greek crisis June 27, 2011 The FTSE 100 was up this morning but investors remained wary ahead of yet another chapter in the Greek financial crisis. Greek MPs are due to debate a fresh package of austerity measures later. The euro slipped as confidence in the eurozone continued to be sapped by Greece’s debt pile. Meanwhile France’s Christine Lagarde was [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 15, 2010 HMV Deutsche Bank rates the retailer “hold” with a target price of 45p. The broker has cut its profit forecast by 20 per cent after a gloomy set of results last week, and sees an eight per cent drop in like-for-like sales in the second half of the year. It has concerns about the focus [...]
Carlyle Group will take control of Fairfield Partnership December 12, 2010 CARLYLE Group plans to take a controlling stake in Fairfield Partnership, the regional housing developer that owns more than 1,000 sites in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The US private equity giant will pay an initial £17m, rising to £40m after an agreed investment of capital. It will buy the stake from Fairview New Homes, which jointly [...]
FUND MANAGER OF THE YEAR | The Shortlist day nine June 29, 2011 Institutional investors play a critical role across the spectrum of corporate life and wealth generation in the UK. From generating households’ pension or life insurance income, to ensuring companies maintain the highest standards of corporate governance, their decisions are vital. In an increasingly globalised and competitive world, the City’s investment managers have proved themselves innovative, [...]