Help-to-Buy mortgages nearly double in 2014 second quarter September 2, 2014 The Help-to-Buy scheme is making up an increasing proportion of the mortgage market, with the number of government-guaranteed loans nearly doubling between the first and second quarters of the year. There were 11,243 uses of the controversial scheme between April and June, up significantly from 6,335 in the first three months of the year. When [...]
Biggest bottle of English sparkling wine signed by Damien Hirst yours for £15k September 2, 2014 There will be a very special addition to Christie’s second annual “Out of the Ordinary” sale tomorrow that will put the stereotype of City workers loving sparkling wine to the ultimate test. The award-winning winery Chapel Down has produced the biggest bottle of sparkling wine ever, weighing 26kg and is the equivalent of 10 [...]
Diamond Dave Lewis surprises Tesco staff with rare appearance at Birmingham conference September 2, 2014 Twitter was abuzz yesterday with hashtags like #inspired and #TheFutureLooksGreat after the new boss of Tesco paid a surprise visit to a leadership conference in Birmingham. Retail newbie Dave Lewis, who has jumped in to save Tesco, made news headlines after he wrote to his 500,000 employees asking them to email him with ideas [...]
M&A deals in UK fall to 27-year quarterly low September 2, 2014 THE NUMBER of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the UK and arranged abroad by UK-owned firms fell to at least a 27-year low in the second quarter of the year. Balfour Beatty and Carillion called off a construction mega-merger last month, but official data released this morning showed that the firms weren’t the only ones [...]
Food costs help to power 16th month of retail price deflation September 2, 2014 Shop prices fell again during the year to August with the lowest food inflation on record, according to an industry body this morning. Figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen today show that shop prices overall fell by 1.6 per cent – the 16th month of deflation on record. Although the pace [...]
Swiss economy catches cold as EU sneezes September 2, 2014 SWITZERLAND’S economy unexpectedly flatlined in the second quarter as trade took a hit from stagnation in its main export market, Europe, and a dip in construction spending. The data, missing forecasts of a 0.5 per cent increase from the previous quarter, was the weakest reported by the country’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in [...]
Construction sector celebrates strongest conditions since 2007 September 2, 2014 THE CONSTRUCTION sector is still expanding as house builders get started on a growing number of projects, according to a survey of the industry released yesterday. Although analysts expect a modest slowdown for the economy as the year comes to an end, builders reported the second-strongest conditions since 2007 in August, according to data firm [...]
Fall in PPI complaints leads to 42pc fewer disputes with banks September 2, 2014 A DECLINE in the number of disputes about the mis-selling of loan insurance in the first half of 2014 has led to a fall of nearly 42 per cent in total complaints against British banks, figures released yesterday by the banks’ ombudsman reveal. The Financial Ombudsman Service said it received 191,000 new complaints during the period, compared [...]
Mining tax in Australia axed after two years September 2, 2014 AUSTRALIA’S controversial mining tax was on the way to the scrap heap yesterday, after having been in place for only two years. The Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, won a vote in the Australian Senate backing a repeal. The vote in the Senate, by 36 to 33, represents a significant political victory [...]
Property market fears have failed to dent confidence – Brand Index September 2, 2014 A decline in homeowners’ optimism about the property market has led to a fall in our monthly YouGov / Cebr Consumer Confidence Index for the first time since December 2012. However, looking at the latest set of data from our Household Economic Activity Tracker (known as Heat) suggests that consumer confidence is becoming more broad-based, [...]