July Budget 2015: Buy-to-let landlords hit as George Osborne restricts mortgage tax relief and hikes rent a room allowance July 8, 2015 George Osborne has cut mortgage interest relief on buy-to-let homes, in an effort to create a "level playing field" between prospective landlords and those buying their homes to live in. Read more: Chancellor slashes corporation tax and bank levy The chancellor said the relief will be cut to the basic rate of income tax, which [...]
Summer Budget 2015: Barclays, HSBC, RBS share prices rise as Osborne reveals levy will be ditched July 8, 2015 Banks share prices lifted this afternoon as George Obsorne confirmed the levy would be phased out over the next six years. In a move widely seen as looking to sway HSBC, Standard Chartered et al from leaving the UK, Osborne's first all-Tory Budget confirmed that the levy would be cut gradually until 2022. Instead [...]
July Budget 2015: Non-doms “will pay the same tax as everyone else” July 8, 2015 George Osborne has announced that he will crack down on non-doms who evade or aggressively avoid taxation. Widely anticipated before the Budget, Osborne said he would name and shame tax avoidance schemes. We've stopped these blatant abuses that were allowed to flourish, and many others. But we said to the British people we would do [...]
July Budget 2015: Odds on George Osborne to talk Greece, BBC, Long Term Economic Plan… and maybe some Balls July 8, 2015 Will George Osborne be talking Balls in the Budget? Ed Balls that it is. The chancellor name-checking the ousted MP and former shadow chancellor in his Budget address is a 10/1 bet. It's more likely Osborne will give a mention to #MinisterOfAwesome Yanis Varoufakis at 5/1, while Greece is the word topping the Budget buzzword [...]
Antony Jenkins fired from Barclays: Here’s what people are making of it July 8, 2015 It might not be the best day for Antony Jenkins, but Barclays investors seem pretty happy with the news that he's been ousted. Barclays share price leapt 2.7 per cent at the open, rising to 3.2 per cent in mid-morning trading, comfortably leading the FTSE 100. The board has praised Jenkins for his work [...]
A Grexit could wipe almost £1 trillion from global M&A activity July 8, 2015 Greece's exit from the euro would strike a severe blow to global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity if not managed carefully, according to a report by legal firm Baker & McKenzie. Read more: Here's what we can learn from the 10 biggest deals in pharmaceutical history Using financial modelling, it predicts that over the [...]
UK Oil and Gas Investments share price slips as chairman David Lenigas leaves and chief Stephen Sanderson steps up July 8, 2015 The chairman of the UK firm exploring oil at Horse Hill near Gatwick, known as the "Gatwick gusher", is stepping down. David Lenigas is leaving UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG) where he will be replaced by chief executive Stephen Sanderson. "It is my policy to step down from the boards of companies once I believe [...]
Antony Jenkins: His time at Barclays from the Libor scandal to the time he tried to ban free banks July 8, 2015 Barclays today revealed it has fired chief executive Antony Jenkins after three years at the helm, saying the bank needs a new leader, with a new set of skills, to take it into future growth. The move is widely seen as being instigated ahead of John McFarlane's arrival as executive chairman the middle of [...]
UK manufacturing companies’ profitability falls to two-year low July 8, 2015 Profitability of UK companies fell to 11.9 per cent in the first quarter of this year – slightly down from the previous quarter's 12.1 per cent, figures published today showed. The Office for National Statistics said the drop had been driven down by rates of return for manufacturing companies, which slumped to 6.8 per cent, [...]
Halifax house price index: UK house price growth picks up again after pre-election wobble July 8, 2015 UK house price growth finally picked up again in the three months between April and June after two months of falling growth – suggesting confidence among buyers is back after it wavered in the run-up to the General Election. Read more: We're massively estimating how much it costs to live – including deposits on homes Halifax's [...]