UK wine-making industry enjoys sparkling good health and growth September 27, 2015 English wine-makers have enjoyed a vintage year, and are set to double in capacity and production over the next seven years. According to figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association released today, English vine-yards have grown, on average, 11 per cent a year over the last 10 years. There are currently 135 wineries producing [...]
CoolBrands 2015: Apple crowned the king of cool as Google slips September 27, 2015 Apple has retained pole position for the fourth year in a row in a ranking of companies' brand appeal, according to pollsters CoolBrands. Its tech rival Google, however, dropped out of the top 10 altogether, slipping to 12th from sixth in 2014. Despite an improving economy, luxury brands did not manage to maintain [...]
Tesla drives towards 2020 target of 500,000 cars with European factory September 27, 2015 TESLA, the electric car manufacturer, has opened a factory in the Netherlands to help boost European sales. The company announced on Twitter over the weekend it was opening the factory in Tilburg to assemble the Model S sedan and carry out final quality checks. The factory also boasts the first indoor production track in Europe. [...]
British firms owe taxman £2.6bn worth of VAT September 27, 2015 British businesses are behind with VAT payments to HMRC to the tune of £2.6bn, due to clients not paying bills on time, according to research from finance firm LDF. It found one of the biggest causes of late payments to the government is that smaller firms are struggling to collect cash from customers, leaving them [...]
Can you Adam and Eve it? Cockneys gather in the City for a right old-fashioned knees-up September 27, 2015 It's Harvest Festival season, and to celebrate the City traded sharp suits and brogues for pearls and pinnies as cockneys dominated the financial district on the weekend. Glistening pearls, donkeys, shire horses and music hall favourites – the Pearly King and Queen Harvest Festival had it all. Pearly Kings and Queens joined Aldermen and [...]
Catalans vote in favour of break away from Spain September 27, 2015 SEPARATIST parties won an absolute majority of seats in Catalonia’s regional parliament yesterday, deepening a standoff with Spain’s central government over independence. The main secessionist group Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) won 62 seats in the 135-strong assembly in Spain’s wealthy northeastern region, while smaller leftist party CUP won another 10 seats, official results [...]
UK housing market: Property lending showing signs of rebound as banks resume financing September 27, 2015 Lending to the property sector is showing signs of recovery as the long-term decline in bank finance begins to slow, says commercial law firm EMW. In a report today, EMW says bank lending to investors in the property sector has levelled out over the past year, down just one per cent from £136.2bn in July [...]
Bank of England may put cap on lending for buy-to-let landlords September 27, 2015 THE BOOMING buy-to-let mortgage market is putting the UK’s banking system at risk, the Bank of England has warned. Officials are watching for lenders making it easier for would-be landlords to get loans, with the government weighing up whether to give the Bank powers to cap buy-to-let lending as it can for owner-occupied loans. A [...]
Synergy Health shares soar after US judge green-lights takeover September 27, 2015 SHARES in Synergy Health soared over 40 per cent on Friday after a US judge gave the go ahead for the British health outsourcing firm to be purchased by US rival Steris. The £1.25bn deal had previously been blocked by US antitrust regulators, but was reversed by the US district court in Cleveland, Ohio. The [...]
Investment fund for cyber crime hunters to float September 27, 2015 The first investment fund focused solely on companies battling cyber crime lists on the London Stock Exchange today. The exchange traded fund (ETF), called the ETFS ISE Cyber Security Ucits ETF, will launch in London nearly a year after it made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The fund, which invests in an [...]