Global liveability ranking: Melbourne tops the charts again as terror and austerity makes European cities less attractive August 18, 2015 "Liveability" has fallen in cities across Europe, thanks to terror attacks and economic instability, figures published by the Economist showed today. The global liveability index ranked London at 53rd place out of the 140 cities studied. If you want a more pleasant environment, move to Melbourne instead. For the fifth year running, the Australian city [...]
UK house prices: Persimmon share price dips despite fecund first half August 18, 2015 Another day, another housebuilder boasting impressive growth, after Persimmon said profits rose 31 per cent to £2.72.8m in the six months to the end of June. The figures You read that right: profits before tax rose 31 per cent to £272.8m, up from £208.9m last year. Meanwhile revenues rose 11 per cent to £1.3bn, while underlying earnings per share [...]
Housebuilder shares drop on “vanilla” house price growth August 18, 2015 Shares in the UK's largest listed housebuilders fell today, despite official figures showing annual house price growth rose to 5.7 per cent in June. Shares in Barratt fell 1.45 per cent to 643.5p in late morning trading, while Berkeley Group was down just under one per cent at 3,422p. Meanwhile, shares in Persimmon, which posted [...]
“Summer boom” in upmarket central London lettings as Mayfair has post-election bounce August 18, 2015 It's not just super-rich property buyers who breathed a sigh of relief when the result of the General Election was announced: new figures suggest landlords were also pretty relieved, after corporate relocation enquiries for homes in Mayfair jumped 40 per cent in the past three months. Read more: One estate agent is enticing the super-rich [...]
Train fare rises 2016: Here’s how much train ticket prices and your season ticket will go up by August 18, 2015 The cost of commuting will rise next year, but in a rare bit of good news for anyone who catches the train to work, that increase will be at the second-lowest rate in nearly two decades. The price of rail travel will go up by just one per cent in 2016, in line with the RPI [...]
Chinese stocks tumble as Shangai Composite and Shenzhen Composite close six per cent lower August 18, 2015 Stocks in China plummeted overnight on concerns about weak demand in China, as well as disappointing manufacturing figures from the US. The Shanghai Composite – which has suffered in recent weeks as the People's Bank of China (PBoC) devalued the renminbi against the dollar – closed 6.15 per cent lower, at 3,748 points. Meanwhile, the [...]
UK inflation: Rail fares have risen “three times faster” than wages – but next year will be lowest increase for years August 18, 2015 Next year could the the first time in years that commuters beat the annual rail fare rise, with the rate based on July's inflation data published today. Economists have previously tipped the inflation measure to be around one per cent for July – the month which regulated rail fares are set by. That would make it [...]
Global M&A activity goes above $3trn for the year – and healthcare takes the crown August 18, 2015 The total value of global mergers and acquisitions has surpassed $3trn (£1.9trn) for 2015, according to figures released by Dealogic. It is the fastest this point has been reached since 2007, when total activity went above $3trn on 23 July. In 2014 the point was not passed until November. The deal that pushed [...]
Gatwick Airport boss Stewart Wingate blasts recommendation to build third Heathrow runway August 18, 2015 The chief executive of Gatwick Airport has hit out at a recent commission’s recommendation that Heathrow be expanded. A 50-page catalogue of criticisms, published yesterday, targets the Davies Commission’s use of analysis from consultants PwC, despite its own expert panel urging caution on it. It also said the commission’s proposals, which rejected calls to expand [...]
Can shipping brokers ride out the rougher seas? August 18, 2015 Commodity turmoil could blow the shipping industry off course. The wider effects of stormy conditions in the global commodities market are emerging as more companies reveal tumbling earnings. Shipping company Clarksons yesterday published profits of £6.2m, down 36.7 per cent on the first six months of the previous year, citing “severe challenges faced by the [...]