Time to move to Chatham? Best value commuter towns cut thousands off London house prices July 29, 2015 A one hour commute can knock around £450,000 off the average price of a house, according to new research published today by a major UK bank. Towns which are an hour’s commute from central London, which include Crawley, Newbury, Colchester and Chatham have an average property price of £272,000 – a significant contrast to the average [...]
Summer sizzler: Over £11bn of UK-focused takeover deals on horizon as market heats up July 28, 2015 The deals market sprang back into action yesterday, with four major takeovers unveiled after a relatively quiet month on the transactions front. Over £11bn worth of UK-focused takeovers are now on the cards, after Melrose agreed to sell portfolio company Elster for £3.3bn and pharma group Hikma bought a US drugs business for £1.7bn. GKN [...]
Bank of England’s Andy Haldane raises the stakes for UK companies as new speech challenges “shareholder-centric model” July 28, 2015 Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane has stepped up his case for an overhaul of UK corporate governance with the publication of a surprising new speech. In the previously unpublished speech, first delivered at the University of Edinburgh in May, Haldane argues for a “fundamental re-rooting of company law” to challenge the “shareholder-centric company [...]
UK consumer confidence hits the high notes as interest rate rise looms July 28, 2015 British shoppers are at their most confident since September, new survey figures reveal this morning. The consumer confidence index published by YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) climbed to a score of 114 in July. Consumers are most optimistic on their job security, business activity and house values. However, there has [...]
Price war looms after BlackRock slashes fees to offer cheapest fund on the market July 28, 2015 The battle to invest savers’ cash ramped up yesterday after fund giant BlackRock slashed fees on their most popular funds by 50 per cent, giving it the cheapest fund on the open market. The company, which manages $4.7 trillion for investors, said it would cut fees on its UK equity FTSE tracker fund to 0.07 [...]
George Osborne’s budget deficit elimination plan gets IMF seal of approval July 28, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to eliminate the budget deficit by 2020 received a thumbs up from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday. While some have argued that his aim to balance the state books is a risk to the UK’s economic recovery, the IMF said that sustainable growth would require moving away from public [...]
Majestic to roll out Naked Wines click and collect service in stores July 28, 2015 Majestic Wines said yesterday it will launch a Naked Wines click-collect service in stores across the UK following its £70m acquisition of the younger crowdfunding business earlier this year. The wine retailer said the service had proved a hit with Naked Wines customers after a trial at 22 stores, with over 2,900 orders placed. [...]
Nigel Rich to step down as Segro chairman July 28, 2015 Warehouse developer Segro announced yesterday that its chairman Nigel Rich will step down after a decade in the role. The FTSE 250 company, which owns or manages £6.4bn of assets across Europe covering 5.7m square metres, said Rich will retire at the annual general meeting next year. It has already kick-off the search for his [...]
Drax Group share price powering up as firm swings back into profit July 28, 2015 Shares in power station firm Drax Group leapt up by almost 10 per cent yesterday, after the company swung back to a profit in the six months to 30 June. Drax posted pre-tax profit of £53m, up from a loss of £11m in the same period last year, and increased its dividend to 5.1p per [...]
Twitter share price jumps as second quarter results smash expectations July 28, 2015 Twitter's second-quarter earnings cheered investors and shed a positive light on Jack Dorsey's future as chief executive. The figures During the three months ended June, the social media company's revenue was $502m (£322m) and its earnings-per-share were $0.07. Both these figures beat market expectations by a considerable distance, with analysts having predicted a revenue [...]