UK house price growth at its highest since March – as average house price edges towards £290,000 November 17, 2015 The average UK house price hit £286,000 in September this year, setting yet another record, after August's average of £285,000. Prices rose 6.1 per cent in the year to September, up from 5.5 per cent in the year to August. Between August and September, prices rose 0.8 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis, with first-time buyers found [...]
Andreas Vogler’s AeroLiner3000: Here’s the UK’s (double decker) train of the future November 17, 2015 Forget standing nose-to-armpit with your fellow commuters as your carriage wends its cautious way through the British countryside: in the future we could all be travelling in high speed comfort, on this double-decker bullet train. The catchily-titled AeroLiner3000, by architect Andreas Vogler, is one of three shortlisted by the Rolling Stock Safety Board (RSSB) in a competition to propose new [...]
Urban Outfitters’ share price plummets as it unveils baffling pizza chain acquisition November 17, 2015 It turns out hipsters are as discerning about their food as they are about their outfits. Shares in US retail giant URBN, parent company of ultra-hip retailer Urban Outfitters, plummeted more than 10 per cent to $20.40 in out-of-hours trading after it announced the rather confusing decision to buy a pizza restaurant chain. In a statement Marc [...]
Barings Bank rogue trader Nick Leeson is back – with a risk management enterprise called Risk Team November 16, 2015 Nick Leeson, the man who single-handedly brought down Barings Bank, is back in business – and he's taking a punt on businesses hiring him to help them manage risk. Today Leeson, best known as the stripy jacket-wearing inspiration behind Ewan McGregor movie Rogue Trader, said today that the idea the company will focus on raising risk awareness around [...]
Marriott International to buy Starwood Hotels and Resorts for $12.2bn November 16, 2015 Marriott International said today it had agreed to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts in a $12.2bn (£8bn) cash and shares deal, creating the world's largest hotel company. In a statement today, the company said the combined company – which will include the Sheraton, W Hotels and Ritz-Carlton brands, will have more than 5,500 hotels, with more than [...]
Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley buys Goals Soccer Centres stake November 16, 2015 Outspoken Sports Direct majority shareholder Mike Ashley has diversified again: this time into Goals Soccer Centres, the Aim-listed five-a-side pitch operator. In a statement this morning, Goals Soccer said Sports Direct had bought a 4.9 per cent stake in the company – worth just under £4m – via a contract for difference (CFD). It's not the first time Ashley [...]
Knight Frank development opportunity areas: These 18 places could experience the highest levels of housebuilding over the next few years November 16, 2015 The Conservatives may have promised a housebuilding revolution during the election – but where will those new homes actually appear? New research by Knight Frank suggests the answer is Manchester and Leeds. The upmarket estate agent has ranked the local authorities which provide the best opportunities for property developers over the next 10 years – and the two areas are [...]
BT Openreach boss Joe Garner steps down to move to Nationwide November 16, 2015 The chief executive of BT Openreach has handed in his notice, after he was offered a job leading high street lender Nationwide. It's not exactly classic timing: BT's local access network division is currently at the centre of a competition row. In a statement today, BT said Joe Garner will step down in the spring of 2016, [...]
Fitch downgrades Rolls-Royce rating as its share price continues to fall November 13, 2015 Credit ratings agency Fitch today revised its outlook for embattled British engineering giant Rolls-Royce to negative, after the company issued a profit warning yesterday. In a statement today, the agency said that while Rolls-Royce's financial profile is likely to recover in the medium to long term, "should the recovery stall or take longer than expected, [...]
Disappointing third quarter for UK construction sector November 13, 2015 Construction output in the UK fell 2.2 per cent in the three months to the end of October, compared with the quarter before, figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed today. That figure is exactly what the ONS estimated as part of the UK's pretty disappointing third-quarter GDP figure – but remains very [...]
