Amount of repossessions is set to go up November 12, 2009 FEWER homes will be repossessed this year than previously forecast, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday, but the body expects 2010 to see more repossessions. The CML lowered its forecast for the second time this year and now anticipates that 48,000 homes will be repossessed in 2009, just 8,000 more than in 2008. [...]
LICENCED TO SELL November 12, 2009 THE former Midland Bank headquarters – which was the setting for the Fort Knox vault in 1964 Bond film Goldfinger – has been sold for £40m to an anonymous buyer. The building, located opposite the Bank of England, was owned by a Russian investor who wanted to convert the 291,573 sq ft bank into a [...]
City conference to debate means of responsible asset management November 12, 2009 CITY leaders have banded together to hold a conference on responsible asset management in the wake of the financial crisis. Hosts the City of London Corporation and Hermes Fund Managers said “the financial crisis has highlighted the need for institutional investors to promote a sustainable financial system and be more actively engaged with the assets [...]
Minerva bullish on recovering demand for prime properties November 12, 2009 PROPERTY developer Minerva said yesterday increased demand for quality property would hold it in good stead – but failed to update the market on lettings at its two City developments. The interim statement coincided with property advisor Drivers Jonas’s London Crane Survey, which crowned Minerva as the developer with the most speculatively developed space under [...]
WestLB profit to disappoint November 12, 2009 GERMAN state-backed bank WestLB expects earnings in the fourth quarter of 2009 to be below average, mainly because of the cost of restructuring to hive off assets into an €85bn (£76.2bn) “bad bank”. In an update ahead of its fourth quarter results, the bank said all the decisions on splitting the bank into a core [...]
MILKING IT November 12, 2009 DAIRY Crest said half-year pre-tax profits jumped 20 per cent to £34m, up from £28.4m a year earlier. Revenue dipped one per cent to £803.7m, while sales of key brands, including Country Life, rose 10 per cent.
SFO drops prosecution of biotech millionaire Sir Christopher Evans November 12, 2009 BIOTECH millionaire Sir Christopher Evans will not be prosecuted for alleged fraud after a four-year probe into his venture capital firm Merlin Biosciences was dropped. The Serious Fraud Office has been investigating Evans over claims from a former employee that he had paid between £1m and £2.5m into a shell company of unknown ownership. But [...]
Trinity Mirror sees signs of stabilisation November 12, 2009 NEWSPAPER group Trinity Mirror said yesterday that it has seen a slowdown in the rate of revenue declines, and that it was confident of meeting expectations for 2009. The publisher of the Daily Mirror and a host of other national and regional titles said underlying advertising revenue had fallen 20 per cent in the first [...]
Resolution’s hunt for deals gathers pace November 12, 2009 RESOLUTION, the insurance-focused takeover vehicle owned by entrepreneur Clive Cowdery, says it is still hungry for acquisitions, boosting shares in possible target Legal & General. Resolution reiterated its aim to buy two more major insurers within 15 months following its takeover of Friends Provident, saying upcoming regulatory changes made consolidation “both desirable and inevitable” in [...]
BT sees slide in profits but lifts cost cuts November 12, 2009 BT GROUP yesterday reported a 45 per cent drop in first-half profits, but upped its full-year guidance and said it had seen improvements at its troubled Global Services (GS) division. The telecoms giants said that cost cutting measures had enabled it to report a two per cent increase in second-quarter earnings to £1.43bn, and free [...]