Housebuilding set to increase for three years as prices keep rising February 1, 2015 CONSTRUCTION output will be driven by increased private housebuilding over the coming years, a top industry body said today. The sector is responding to growing house prices with increased activity. Housebuilding will grow by 10 per cent this year and 20.2 per cent by 2018, the Construction Products Association (CPA) forecasts. That means private homes [...]
De Beers owner facing junk rating February 1, 2015 MINING firm Anglo American, which controls the De Beers diamond group, is facing a downgrade to “junk” status. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is expected to move the company down two notches to a BB+ rating, after Anglo’s downbeat report last week.
Opportunity International gala dinner: City philanthropists raise £400,000 for African businesses February 1, 2015 London's philanthropists dug deep to help raise more than £400,000 in one night for Opportunity International, a charity helping businesses flourish in Africa. Opportunity International, which has long been backed by City A.M., provides thousands of microfinance loans to enterprising people in the developing world. And the crowd that descended on the Church House Assembly [...]
Record number employed to work in the City February 1, 2015 London has more finance and professional services workers than ever before, business group TheCityUK revealed today. A total of 709,500 now work in the sectors in the capital, up 2.5 per cent on the year. That compares with 692,600 a year ago, and 691,700 at its pre-crisis peak in 2007. And TheCityUK expects another 19,200 [...]
Commercial property investment reaches highest post-crash level February 1, 2015 MORE investors are putting money into commercial property, city law firm RPC said today. According to the firm’s analysis of official figures, private investment in commercial property climbed from £5.8bn in 2012 to £6.6bn in 2013 – a 14 per cent increase. Financial institutions’ property deals a jumped to £7.4bn in 2013 from £6bn in [...]
More vacancies than jobseekers February 1, 2015 UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen so far that some recruiters now have more vacancies on their books than jobseekers. Jobs site Adzuna today reported it had 968,273 vacancies registered at the end of 2014, a rise of 30 per cent on the year. But at the same time it only had 823,032 jobseekers. However, Adzuna said advertised [...]
Businesses see skills shortage February 1, 2015 BRITAIN’S economic recovery could be thrown off track by a shortage of skilled workers, according to a study out today by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Its business confidence index slid from 28.6 three months ago to 16.8 now, reflecting a more challenging economic environment. As demand from customers grows, [...]
PwC: Customers should pay for bank accounts February 1, 2015 Banks should charge regular fees to current account customers, to encourage innovation and help challenger banks, PwC analysts argue in a report today. Most UK current accounts charge no upfront fee, but make money from low interest rates, overdraft fees and other one-off charges. However, implementing up-front charges may prove difficult, as the majority of [...]
Traditional lenders to make up ground on alternative financing February 1, 2015 A LEADING group of economists expects lending to businesses to recover this year after six years of decline. The total amount of loans to businesses in 2014 was 31 per cent below their 2008 level. This trend should reverse this year, according to the Item Club, sponsored by consultants EY. The economists predict a slow [...]
Seedrs toasts French wine equity raising February 1, 2015 Seedrs, the popular London-based equity crowdfunding service, is breaking new ground this week with a French vineyard conducting its London stock market roadshow via the site. Domaine Chanzy will raise at least £1.9m selling shares at a price of 120p through Seedrs. The Seedrs roadshow is expected to run for four weeks from today, while [...]
