UK’s richest men back London firm that harvests energy from footsteps May 28, 2019 The UK’s richest men have thrown their support behind a technology which transforms footsteps on a pavement into electricity. Hinduja Group, run by brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja who topped the Sunday Times Rich List earlier this month, is supporting a £5m fundraise by Pavegen. The company’s pavement slabs transform the kinetic energy from footsteps [...]
Sports Direct HQ sold to Malaysian pension fund for £120m May 28, 2019 Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has confirmed the freehold sale of its headquarters to a Malaysian pension fund. The sportswear retailer, which will continue to occupy the building on a 15-year lease, said this morning that it has sold its logistics centre to Kwasa Logix Sportivo for more than £120m in cash. Read more: Debenhams versus [...]
Bombardier in line to win €2.3bn Cairo monorail contract May 28, 2019 Canadian firm Bombardier has been named as the preferred bidder for a €2.3bn (£2bn) contract to build a monorail system in Egypt’s capital, and said it would make the trains in Britain. Read more: Airbus boss cagey over Bombardier Northern Ireland plant If successful, Bombardier’s transportation arm would bag a design and build contract worth €1.2bn [...]
Taking the higher ground rent: How homeowners can stop themselves falling victim to dubious leasehold contracts May 28, 2019 Finally able to buy your first home, you skip away from the rat race that is the rental system, proudly boasting the much-revered title of “homeowner”. And yet, if you’ve bought a leasehold property, it might not be the picket-fenced dream that you’d bargained for. Millions of UK properties, typically flats, are sold as leasehold. This [...]
The tenant fee ban is good news for landlords May 28, 2019 From 1 June, it will be illegal for tenants in England to be charged letting fees, with deposits capped at six weeks’ rent. Anyone who rents their home will see the benefits in the tenant fee ban, with tenants expected to save an average of £400 per move. More importantly, this policy marks the beginning [...]
M&G Investments rejects hostile takeover of Provident Financial May 28, 2019 M&G Investments has announced that it will reject a hostile takeover of Provident Financial by rival sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance. The investment firm, which owns 1.7 per cent of Provident’s stock, has joined Schroders and Coltrane in confirming it will refuse to back the deal. Read more: Non-Standard Finance confident of watchdog support for £1.3bn [...]
Galliford Try shares rise as it rebuffs £950m Bovis offer for housebuilding arm May 28, 2019 Home builder Bovis today revealed that talks for a £950m merger deal with Galliford Try’s housing business have collapsed. Read more: Galliford Try rejects takeover bid from rival Bovis Homes Bovs homes said this morning the two firms are "no longer in discussions" after its revised proposal to snap up Galliford Try’s Linden Homes and Partnerships [...]
Farewell to Theresa May, the most ineffectual Prime Minister in modern history May 28, 2019 When Theresa May departs from Number 10 for the final time, her portrait will be added to the collection which snakes down the main staircase. It is the ritualised ending for all Prime Ministers, good, bad or indifferent. It will be hard for her to walk down those stairs without thinking of her legacy, and [...]
As Brexit rages, the European project unravels before our eyes May 28, 2019 While the London foreign policy commentariat obsesses over the pathetic soap opera that is Brexit, it almost entirely misses the obvious and strategically vital point next door: the European project is in irretrievable decline, becoming increasingly peripheral to any serious global geopolitical discussion. The just-concluded European elections, which have underlined the rise of populism and [...]
Lender Amigo hails soaring profits as it fights to dispel guarantor loans ‘myths’ May 28, 2019 Lender Amigo saw profits grow almost 70 per cent to £111m in its latest financial year, amid the threat of a regulatory crackdown on the guarantor loan market. Read more: Profit leaps at guarantor loans provider Amigo following its London float The figures Profit before tax soared 68 per cent to £111m year on year [...]