Central London’s luxury property dips on Brexit uncertainty December 22, 2020 The allure of luxury property in central London has waned this year amid Brexit uncertainty and weaker demand. With Brexit reaching an impasse ahead of the end of the transition period, the annual price change in prime central and prime outer London properties grew to its widest this month. Average prices in prime central London [...]
Offices share half-a-billion business rates write-off December 22, 2020 The Valuation Office Agency has agreed to write off almost £500m-worth of offices’ business rates after weeks of negotiations. Business rates discounts were announced for firms directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, including pubs and restaurants. Read more: UK borrowing in November the third-highest on record Offices that lay empty however [...]
Patel refuses to rule out further Tier 4 restrictions as mutant virus spreads December 22, 2020 Home Secretary Priti Patel has refused to rule out a new year lockdown, as a new, more infectious variant of coronavirus spreads across the country. This morning Patel said the government was willing to take stronger measures if the virus continued to spread in the UK. Speaking on Sky News, she said: “If new strains [...]
UK Q3 growth revised upwards to 16 per cent but recovery stalls in October December 22, 2020 The UK grew only 0.4 per cent in October as the reintroduction of restrictions across the country took their toll on the economic recovery. In the same release, the Office for National Statistics revised their estimate of GDP growth in Q3, however, to 16 per cent. Read more: UK borrowing hits third highest monthly level [...]
Applegreen goes private as founders and Blackstone tie up £653m deal December 22, 2020 Irish petrol station and roadside convenience operator Applegreen has agreed to a bid from a consortium led by investment company Blackstone. The deal values the firm at 718.1m euro, a premium of around 48 per cent on the firm’s share price on the day of the bid. The buyout will see the firm go private. [...]
Chris Tremlett: Why Zak Crawley’s double century was my cricket highlight of 2020 December 22, 2020 How a player starts their international career can be defining, so my cricket highlight of 2020 was a young man laying down a marker. Zak Crawley’s double century for England in the third Test against the West Indies during the summer was really impressive. A performance like that should fill the 22-year-old Kent batsman with [...]
Sofa so good at DFS with sales up 19 per cent in six months December 22, 2020 Gross sales at DFS Furniture increased 19 per cent against the comparable 24-week period ending 15 December 2019, despite disruption caused by Covid-19. The furniture business’s online channel in particular grew in the 24 weeks to 13 December, with gross sales up 76 per cent on the same period last year. DFS believes it has [...]
Border closures force Toyota to shut three plants early for Christmas December 22, 2020 Toyota plans to shut production at three plants in Britain and France early for Christmas, due to likely part shortages as a result of border closures. Toyota’s plant in Deeside, Wales, will close from today, and its vehicle plant in Burnaston will close from tomorrow. In France, its site at Onnaing will shut its doors [...]
UK monthly borrowing hits third-highest figure on record December 22, 2020 The UK Government borrowed £31.6bn in November, the third-highest figure on record. A combination of the furlough scheme, ongoing business loan programmes, and spending on Covid-related operations such as Test and Trace and the vaccine rollout has seen borrowing spike. The Office for National Statistics began monitoring borrowing figures in 1993. Read more: US passes [...]
Will 2021 herald the end of the trade wars? December 22, 2020 2020 began with hope of a fragile truce in the US-China trade war. The Phase 1 trade deal between Washington and Beijing was signed in January. However, this talked only about product purchases; it did not cover the most contentious issues around security and intellectual property theft. As a result, the deal effectively handed the [...]
