Royal Mail races past 470p as full trading starts October 14, 2013 THOUSANDS of individual investors are expected to offload their Royal Mail shares today, as the company completes its listing on the London Stock Exchange. Shares in the privatised postal service yesterday closed at 471.36p, up 42 per cent on Friday’s flotation price. This means people who received the maximum £749.10 allocation are already sitting on a [...]
Bank of England deputy fears surge in risky loans October 14, 2013 THE HELP to Buy scheme could leave house buyers dangerously overstretched by encouraging them to take out risky mortgages, the incoming Bank of England deputy governor warned yesterday. The mortgage guarantees on offer from the government mean banks will be protected against taking excessive risks, but borrowers could be encouraged to over-reach themselves, Sir Jon [...]
Zombie estate agents at risk from rate rise October 14, 2013 ALMOST half a million British firms are now zombies, only able to stay afloat because interest rates are so low, insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor estimated yesterday, with estate agents the worst affected. One in seven firms can barely cover their interest payments and are at risk of going under if rates go up, amounting to [...]
Nobel laureate sees UK bubble October 14, 2013 THE UK is experiencing a housing bubble, economics Nobel winner Robert Shiller warned yesterday, blaming easy credit for the boom. “It looks somewhat like a bubble, prices are rising pretty fast,” he told BBC’s Newsnight. “Whenever you have easy credit, that helps promote a bubble.” But he said it will not be as bad as [...]
Labour lead on Tories shrinks October 14, 2013 LABOUR’S lead over the Conservatives has shrunk to just one percentage point, according to the latest YouGov poll. The survey for The Sun puts Ed Miliband’s party on 38 per cent, down from 40 per cent in a poll last week and barely ahead of the Tories’ 37 per cent. David Cameron’s party is up from 33 [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 15 October 2013 October 14, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Twitter aims to sell ads on other sites Twitter is planning to mine data about its users to help sell advertising on other mobile apps or websites, as it tries to find new sources of revenue in the run up to a stock market listing that could value the company at $15bn. Moscow [...]
Marks & Spencer chief heads charge against EU regulations October 14, 2013 BUSINESS leaders will this morning set out 30 EU regulations that they believe should be scrapped in order to help the British economy, in a boost for Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to renegotiate a new relationship with Brussels. The business taskforce, headed by a team including Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland, was commissioned by the [...]
Big audit firms win reprieve after protests over tender rule change October 14, 2013 THE COMPETITION Commission will this morning reveal the final version of its plans to shake up the audit market, having rowed back from its original proposals to force firms to hear pitches from auditors every five years. The commission is expected to set out a longer timeframe for the so-called mandatory tender rules, which are [...]
Q and A: Royal Mail share sale: what’s next for the postal service? October 14, 2013 Q What’s happening today? I thought Royal Mail was already listed. A Shares were allocated to investors last Friday and conditional trading began the same day. But the formal float process is only completed today, meaning buyers actually come into possession of shares listed on the stock market. Q Does this mean I can finally [...]
Sky Movies deal pushes TV rivals closer together October 14, 2013 BT FINALLY inked a deal with Sky yesterday to show its premium Sky Movies channels on BT’s TV packages following three years of negotiations. Though talks between the media giants to allow Sky Sports content across all of BT’s TV offerings remain ongoing, the Sky Movies deal could indicate Sky is more willing to negotiate [...]