Spain bad loans hit record high November 18, 2013 SPANISH banks’ bad loans as a percentage of total lending rose to 12.7 per cent in September from 12.1 per cent in August – a new high, Bank of Spain data showed yesterday. The ratio has been steadily climbing as households and small companies struggle with debts and as banks, fighting to improve their own [...]
Yields drop on Italian bonds November 18, 2013 ITALIAN bonds edged higher yesterday as investors attracted by prospects of a more stable government and ultra-easy central bank policy snapped up the five-year debt on offer in an exchange operation. The Treasury assigned €3.3bn of December 2018 bonds in exchange for five bonds due in 2015 and 2017 in a bid to ease its [...]
Mortgage sizes boosted as Help to Buy kicks off November 18, 2013 THE SIZE of the average mortgage swelled in October, reaching the highest level against house prices since January 2009, according to figures released by Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) today. In the month that the second phase of the government’s Help to Buy scheme of mortgage guarantees began, MAB says that the average loan-to-value (LTV) rate [...]
Dividends and insurance claims to be paid via smartphone app November 18, 2013 INSURANCE claims, dividends and refunds from firms can be paid via smartphone app PingIt, Barclays announced today, in the latest phase of its mobile payments war with other lenders and cross-bank offering Zapp. Previously PingIt has been used for person-to-person payments and customer-to-company transfers, and is on offer to customers of any bank. But now [...]
Christian Candy buys Sugar Quay freehold November 18, 2013 THE FISHMONGERS’ Company, one of the City’s ancient livery companies, has sold the freehold interest in Sugar Quay near Tower Bridge to Christian Candy’s CPC Group for an undisclosed price. Candy recently won planning consent to develop a major residential scheme on the site.
Raven Russia says it’s nearly full November 18, 2013 Booming demand for warehouse space in Moscow and St Petersburg has helped Raven Russia post strong results in the third quarter of the year. The London-listed firm that supplies warehouse space for big blue-chip companies in Russia said over 97 per cent of its 1.4m square metre portfolio is let thanks to a squeeze in [...]
Occupancy remains strong at Unite November 18, 2013 Student landlord Unite Group yesterday said occupancy across its portfolio stood at 98 per cent in the current academic year and that it remained on track to post three per cent rental growth for the full year. Investment in the student housing sector has soared this year to £1.65bn since the start of the year [...]
Majestic Wine’s prosecco sales bubbling over November 18, 2013 THE NATION’S continuing love affair with prosecco and Argentinian malbec helped lift Majestic Wine’s profits in the first half of the year. Italian sparkling wine sales surged by 39 per cent in the six months to 30 September as total sales rose 3.3 per cent to £130.2m, the wine retailer said yesterday. “Walk down any [...]
Google and Microsoft tighten searches to combat child porn November 18, 2013 GOOGLE and Microsoft unveiled measures yesterday to block online searches for child sex abuse images, as part of a bid by UK authorities to crackdown on internet paedophiles. The companies said as many as 100,000 search terms will now fail to produce results and trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal while offering advice [...]
Thomas Cook sells forex business November 18, 2013 THOMAS Cook has sold its corporate foreign exchange business for £4.5m, as part of its continued drive to pay down debts and turn itself around. The travel firm announced yesterday it has offloaded Thomas Cook Corporate Foreign Exchange to Moneycorp, a rival operator owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Special Opportunities Fund. However, it [...]