PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS July 15, 2010 BP: ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY At last, some good news for BP. Its stock has sunk so low – closing yesterday at 401.75p – that investors are jumping at the chance to snap up cheap stakes in the oil giant. Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers have been piling into the stock – a third of [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS May 27, 2010 MORTGAGES FOR FIRST-TIME BUYERS The Yorkshire Building Society this week launched a new range of mortgages for first time buyers. The products have no up-front product fees and £500 cashback. You can also borrow up to 85 per cent of the value of the property. Borrowers will also get a free standard valuation and free [...]
RULE BRITANNIA… with more than a little help from the Swiss February 3, 2011 ONE of the most striking timepieces produced by a watch company in the past year hasn’t been a watch at all, but a mechanical ship’s clock. Nor was it just the advanced technology behind the clock or the £40,000 price-tag that grabbed the attention. It was the fact that every inch of it, down to [...]
CRUNCH TIME FOR THE HIGH STREET June 26, 2011 FASHION retailer Jane Norman was on the brink of collapse this weekend, after all of its stores across the UK were closed for business, signalling imminent insolvency. Zolfo Cooper, the US accounting firm, has been lined up to put the distressed fashion retailer into a pre-pack administration, which could be approved in court as soon [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 25, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AIRLINE FINANCING RIFT DEEPENS Ryanair and Emirates have taken the unusual step of joining forces with eight other airlines as a multibillion-dollar row over aircraft financing starts to split the world’s largest airlines into two rival camps. The Irish budget airline and Dubai’s Emirates normally shun industry alliances. But yesterday they revealed they [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EMPLOYER OPTIMISM INCREASES IN BIG ECONOMIES Hiring in the US and half a dozen other leading economies will increase for the first time in more than two years during the first quarter of 2011, according to a report released on Monday by Manpower, a global recruiting firm. Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey shows plans [...]
HISTORY IN reverse February 3, 2011 THE ESSENTIALS of what makes a mechanical watch tick have barely changed in 400 years. Back then, it was the British who were leading the way in the world of cogs, escapements and balance wheels, and the thread of that history can still be found in many watches produced today. We’ve covered that on page [...]
Model citizens can get the best deals May 13, 2010 THE turmoil of the past two years has been unforgiving for first time buyers. In the boom times they were falling over themselves to snap up properties before prices shot up further, fuelled by a plethora of mortgages that offered 100 per cent borrowing and sometimes even more than that (thank you, Northern Rock). By [...]
What the other papers say this morning December 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PATTEN TOPS LIST TO CHAIR BBC TRUST Six people are on the shortlist to be the next chairman of the BBC Trust, according to two insiders who have seen the document. Lord Patten, former Conservative party chairman and the last governor of Hong Kong, is clear favourite. But Sir Howard Davies, director of [...]
WHAT DOES THE CHANCELLOR’S BUDGET MEAN FOR YOU? June 22, 2010 KATE SOLWAY, 30 FUNDS CONTROLLER AT PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM COGNETAS Kate is single and lives in rented accommodation. She also owns two investment properties – one a London flat with a mortgage which she rents out, and the other a holiday home under construction in west Africa’s Cape Verde, on which she does not have [...]