Investors shunning small and medium sized businesses because of lack of suitably skilled board members, with many venture capital fund managers opting to drop original chief executive January 26, 2016 The UK's small and medium sized businesses are missing out on valuable funding opportunities because they cannot recruit the right skills to their boards. According to a survey of venture capital fund managers released today by executive search firm Intramezzo, 90 per cent said that a strong leadership team was one of their top criteria [...]
The amount of equity withdrawn by remortgaging properties reached £837m in December 2015, while equity release lending hit £1.61bn in 2015 January 26, 2016 Equity release activity became frenzied in the later months of last year, with both equity withdrawn by remortgaging properties and total equity release lending levels reaching dizzying heights. According to figures released today by Legal Marketing Services (LMS), a total of £837m was extracted from properties through remortgaging in December 2015, up 32 per cent compared to £635m in December [...]
Opec begs others to join it in cutting production January 25, 2016 The standoff between Opec and its rivals came to a head today as the cartels secretary-general called on other oil producing countries to put a ceiling on output. Abdalla El-Badri warned that producers would continue to suffer without co-operation to end a supply glut. The call was echoed by a senior Russian oil executive, who said [...]
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi blasts critics of easy money January 25, 2016 European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi has hit back at critics of the bank's decisions to keep interest rates low and launch a €1.5 trillion (£1.1 trillion) asset purchase programme. Draghi, who last week hinted interest rates might be cut further, said low interest rates were not punishing savers. He said inflation adjusted returns did not tell this story [...]
Bank of England’s Kristin Forbes: Pay growth is not high enough for an interest rate hike – but probably will be soon January 25, 2016 Wages are not yet growing fast enough to lift inflation, but are likely to accelerate soon, one of the Bank of England's rate-setters will say tomorrow. "Labour costs are not yet at the levels consistent with inflation meeting the two per cent target sustainably in the UK," Kristin Forbes will tell the Henry Jackson Society in Parliament. [...]
UK factories suffer drop in domestic and foreign orders January 25, 2016 UK factories have started the year in bad shape, suffering weak sales growth at home and abroad, new survey figures reveal today. The Confederation of British Industry's (CB) headline total order books balance dropped to a score of minus 15 in January from minus seven in December. The export order balance dropped to minus 22 from minus [...]
Oil begins to slide again as HSBC cuts oil price forecasts January 25, 2016 So much for that oil rally. Brent crude slid back down to $31.36 in early afternoon trading – just as HSBC cut its oil price forecast fot he rest of the year. The fall in Brent crude came after oil cartel Opec, which produces 42 per cent of the world's oil, called for all oil-producing [...]
UK oil and gas jobs to be slashed as North Sea suffers – but the sector is warning about a short-term approach January 25, 2016 Confusing news from the UK's oil and gas sector, after a report suggested the number of jobs in the industry will plummet this year – but the industry is still worried about a skills shortage… The report, by certification body DNV GL, suggested 58 per cent of UK respondents working in the sector expected jobs to be [...]
The total value of all the property in the world is $217 trillion – 2.7 times the world’s GDP January 25, 2016 Add up all the property in the entire world, and you get $217 trillion (£152.2 trillion) of assets, a new report has suggested – that's 2.7 times the world's GDP. "To give this figure context, the total value of all the gold ever mined is approximately $6 trillion, which pales in comparison to the total value of [...]
UK house prices: This is how luxury property owners are selling their homes quicker January 25, 2016 Making a fresh batch of coffee and croissants isn't enough to convince people to part with their cash for your property anymore – at least not if you're in the top end of the market. As the super-prime market starts to cool, luxury home-owners are increasingly looking to "home styling" in order to secure the asking [...]