First-time buyers make the most of sudden stall in UK house prices April 12, 2015 First-time buyers snapped up 21,000 houses in February, taking advantage of a short-term blip in house prices, according to estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move. That is an 11 per cent rise in the number of transactions on the month. The average first-time buyer paid £143,767 for their property, down four per cent on [...]
Survey points to high business optimism and strong hiring plans April 12, 2015 Businesses are planning to take on more workers over the coming months, according to survey figures released today by accountancy firm BDO. BDO’s employment index – an indicator of hiring intentions – scored 113 in March. Despite it being marginally lower than February’s 113.1, it is far above the long-term average of 100. Firms also [...]
FTSE 100 closes at record high (again) April 10, 2015 The FTSE 100 closed at another record high today, showing that political uncertainties aren't overtly worrying investors. The index finished the day 1.1 per cent up at 7,092.5 points, only the fifth time it's closed above 7,000 since it finally broke that barrier in mid-March. The close follows a record-breaking day in Japan overnight, where the [...]
General Electric shares leap on plans to shrink finance arm April 10, 2015 Shares in General Electric rose eight per cent to $27.95 in morning trading in New York, after it announced plans to massively shrink its finance arm. Jeff Immelt, the US giant's chief executive, unveiled plans to reduce the size of GE Capital, moving the company's focus back to its manufacturing roots. The plans included a [...]
Charted: Coalition the first government to enjoy uninterrupted interest rates for 60 years April 10, 2015 With the Bank of England’s interest rate decision yesterday, the coalition government has become the first government for 50 years to make it through its entire time in power without interest rates being raised. The total, if you're counting, is now 74 months, after the rate was lowered from one per cent on 5 March [...]
Debenhams bolsters board with appointment of Terry Duddy as a non-executive director April 10, 2015 Debenhams is looking to bolster its board by appointing veteran retailer Terry Duddy as a non-executive director, as it tries to improve its fortunes after years of underperformance. Duddy was chief executive of the Home Retail group until March last year and is chair of the retail trust. Until 2006 he was chief of Argos, [...]
Majestic Wine share price falls after buying Naked Wines for £70m and naming Rowan Gormley chief executive April 10, 2015 Wine companies Majestic and Naked are toasting a multi-million pound deal. Majestic, Britain's largest specialist wine retailer, has bought Naked Wines, a boutique online wine seller, for £70m, combining their online and offline businesses to create a wine retailer with greater international clout. Naked founder and chief executive Rowan Gormley will take the helm of [...]
Workers’ unrest at fraud probe firm CWM FX as Manchester office remains empty April 9, 2015 A police raid on its London offices has not stopped CWM from pushing ahead with plans to expand into the north of the country. However, the troubled forex trading firm’s plush new Manchester premises are now quieter than it had hoped. City A.M. understands that none of the 17 people brought in to make up the [...]
Wage increases gather pace as recruiters battle skills shortage April 9, 2015 Salaries for new staff rose at their fastest pace in six month in March, recruiters said today, as diving unemployment combined with strong growth to push up pay. Finance workers and engineers are in the highest demand, closely followed by executive staff. The study from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG found that almost [...]
Resurrected share floats drive equity capital markets into 2015 April 9, 2015 FOUR of the 10 biggest stock market flotations in Europe so far this year were deals which failed to get off the ground last year, in a remarkable revival of their fortunes. A study out today from PwC shows that London floats made up only 28 per cent of all initial public offerings (IPOs) in Europe [...]