Balfour Beatty sells its half share in Signalling Solutions to Alstom May 28, 2015 BRITISH infrastructure company Balfour Beatty has sold its 50 per cent stake in joint venture Signalling Solutions to French partner Alstom for an undisclosed sum. The company said yesterday that the sale was evidence of progress it is making in focusing on its core strengths. Balfour, which provides construction, engineering and facilities management services in [...]
Helical Bar chief predicts record City office rents of £100 per sq ft and £75 per sq ft in Shoreditch May 28, 2015 The meteoric rise in London office rents is unlikely to slow down for at least another year, the chief executive of property developer Helical Bar said yesterday, as companies compete for limited office space. Mike Slade predicts that rents in the City will rise to a record £100 per square foot by 2017 and £75 [...]
Premier Oil makes Falkland Islands discovery at “most material well” of drilling campaign May 28, 2015 Analysts heralded yesterday’s announcement from London-listed Premier Oil, revealing that it has made an oil discovery at its Falkland Islands Isobel prospect, as “encouraging news” for the group. Andrew Lodge, exploration director at the FTSE 250 company, said the find was “an important play opening discovery” in a previously unexplored area of the North Falkland [...]
Infinis Energy swings into profit in 2015 May 28, 2015 RENEWABLE power firm Infinis Energy swung from a loss to profit in the year to 31 March, against a backdrop of weakening UK wholesale power prices. The company posted a profit of £20.7m in its second year reporting as a listed firm, compared to a loss of £11.8m in the 2014 financial year, while revenue [...]
City A.M. crowdfunding event a crowd pleaser May 28, 2015 It's a new sector that has recently seen fundraising for everything from the Veronica Mars movie to whisky. No wonder there was an enthusiastic crowd at City A.M.’s first crowdfunding conference, held in association with Another Crowd at the RAC yesterday. The calibre of the speakers – who included veteran fund manager Nicola [...]
David Cameron goes Dutch on first leg of EU reform tour: The Netherlands is a good start as the PM looks for allies May 28, 2015 “Old friends and like-minded allies” was how David Cameron described the relationship between the UK and the Netherlands when he was in The Hague yesterday, kicking off his whistle-stop tour of visits to EU leaders to build up support for the changes he wants to made to European policy. “Like-minded” has certainly been the case [...]
Lloyds and Aldermore lead SME loan rise May 28, 2015 Banklending to small businesses picked up at last in the first quarter, Bank of England figures showed yesterday. Net lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose by £615m in the first quarter of 2015. It marks a sharp reversal after years of decline – in the final quarter of 2014, net lending [...]
British consumers are upbeat after General Election outcome May 28, 2015 UK shoppers were slightly less confident this month, but confidence levels remain relatively high, according to survey figures published today. The consumer confidence index put together by market researchers GFK edged down to a score of one for May, from April’s four. However, it is up on the same month last year when it scored [...]
Eurozone economic confidence points to faster growth ahead May 28, 2015 CONFIDENCE in the Eurozone economy was stable this month, according to official figures released today. An index of business and consumer confidence published by the European Commission stood at 103.8, the same as in April. Economists Claus Vistesen from Pantheon Macroeconomics believes the figures point to economic growth of 0.5 per cent over the three [...]
UK growth held back by surge in trade deficit May 28, 2015 THE UK’S domestic economy grew rapidly at the start of the year, but a drop in demand from abroad dampened exports and overall growth. The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) second estimate of GDP said the economy grew by only 0.3 per cent over the first three months of the year – equal to the [...]
