UK house prices accelerate as drop in London moderates March 11, 2015 The fall in London house prices is moderating, an influential study of property surveyors showed today. The proportion of surveyors reporting falling prices in the capital outweighed those reporting a rise by a margin of 28 per cent in February, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said. By contrast, the net balance seeing prices fall [...]
Small deposit mortgages up March 11, 2015 MORTGAGE lending for borrowers with smaller deposits is rebounding. Higher loan-to-value (LTV) lending made up 16.9 per cent of house purchase approvals in February – the largest proportion since September, figures from chartered surveyors E.surv show today. “Lending to lower-deposit borrowers is back on track,” said Richard Sexton, director of e.surv. “Higher LTV borrowers took [...]
Countrywide to back tech hub March 11, 2015 COUNTRYWIDE, the UK’s largest lettings agency group, has given £250,000 of backing to a business hub aimed at finding the next big tech startups in property. Property Innovation Labs (Pi Labs), create by Cushman & Wakefield and venture capital firm Spire Ventures, will help tech startups through mentoring and investment. It launched a £500,000 fund [...]
Former BBC and Yahoo exec Fabiola Arredondo is joining Burberry March 11, 2015 UK fashion house Burberry yesterday appointed former BBC and Yahoo executive Fabiola Arredondo to its board. It hopes the Spanish-American will bring her digital consumer savvy to the non-executive director role and the audit, remuneration and nomination committees. Once named the most influential woman in European business, Arredondo comes to Burberry after repeatedly smashing [...]
Sofa store DFS not lazing about on solid London market debut March 11, 2015 SHARES in sofa chain DFS rose on their debut on the London stock exchange yesterday, the second new listing this week to gain on its first day of trading. DFS, which set its listing price at 255p, saw shares rise by as much as 3.4 per cent to a day high of 263.91p before settling [...]
L&G Capital heads to Cannes to celebrate Media City UK deal – but no rest for Bill Hughes March 11, 2015 Where better place to party after you’ve sealed a half a billion pound deal than Cannes? L&G Capital’s top real estate investors were cracking open the bubbly last night at their annual beach party off the fashionable Boulevard de la Croisette after announcing it had snapped up Media City UK, the home of Coronation Street [...]
Google finance boss goes out on a high March 11, 2015 THE PHRASE “spending more time with my family” is normally code for “I’ve been asked to leave by someone more important than me”. But for Google CFO Patrick Pichette, he really means it. The exiting finance boss said he made the decision after climbing Kilimanjaro, with his wife, who wanted to do more travelling. “When [...]
Boohoo’s 27 per cent revenue jump is nothing to cry about March 11, 2015 ONLINE fashion retailer Boohoo has reported a stylish 27 per cent surge in full-year revenue. The group, which targets 18- to 24 year olds, accredited mobile phones with helping to boost sales. Mobile traffic now represents almost half of all sessions and daily unique visitors to Boohoo.com. Mobile user conversions to sales improved by over [...]
Rich-lister Carlos Slim set to bid adios to Philip Morris March 11, 2015 Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim is retiring from tobacco company Philip Morris International’s (PMI) board of directors, the company announced yesterday. He will step down in May. Ranked by Forbes as the world’s second richest person, Slim has been on PMI’s board since 2008, when the company spun-off from its parent, Altria Group. Before 2008, [...]
Hawkish Martin Weale could be set to change interest rate hike vote March 11, 2015 UK rate-setter Martin Weale has hinted he could revert back to voting for a hike in interest rates, a decision he had only recently reversed. “Despite the international concern about very low inflation, I see the decision of whether or not to tighten policy as finely balanced,” the Bank of England official told an audience [...]
