High inflation hits UK retail sales in July August 18, 2011 THE WEAKNESS of the UK’s consumer recovery was underscored yesterday, after official figures revealed retail sales rose by just 0.2 per cent in July. Clothing sales were particularly weak as cash-strapped households reined in their spending, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. Analysts had pencilled in a 0.3 per cent rise [...]
Sportmaster looks to float in London in spite of turbulence August 18, 2011 RUSSIA’S largest sports equipment and clothes retailer Sportmaster is considering an initial public offering in London next year, financial market sources said yesterday. Sportmaster could attract up to $700m (£424m) in the IPO based on its own valuation of between $2.5bn and $3bn, the sources said, adding the retailer has not yet picked organisers for [...]
Private investigator Mulcaire to sue News Corp over legal fees August 18, 2011 PRIVATE investigator Glenn Mulcaire is to sue Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp after it stopped paying his legal fees over the phone hacking scandal. Murdoch told a parliamentary select committee last month he would cease the payments, which have so far exceeded £246,000. Mulcaire claims the organisation has a contractual obligation to pay the legal bills. Meanwhile [...]
GAP BEATS FORECASTS August 18, 2011 US retailer Gap beat forecasts last night with second-quarter net income that fell less than expected to $189m, from $234m a year ago. Net sales rose two per cent to $3.39bn, though same store sales fell two per cent. Profit margins also came in slightly above expectations, at 36.9 per cent.
London prices help to boost Savills profit August 18, 2011 GLOBAL economic and social problems could hit property broker Savills, its chief executive warned yesterday, despite seeing values for the best properties hold up in London and Asia. Jeremy Helsby shrugged off the commercial impact of the recent riots on Savills and said the firm had won new work for London properties worth more than [...]
Five star: prices soar in London boroughs August 18, 2011 IT is not just Arab sheikhs and Russian oligarchs snapping up the best of London’s residential property. Estate agency Marsh & Parsons received interest from would-be buyers in 193 countries over the last month, according to chief executive Peter Rollings. The firm’s website had the most visits from potential investors from the US, France, Italy, Germany, [...]
Rents in capital still soaring August 18, 2011 LONDON rent rises are outstripping those in the regions as frustrated would-be homebuyers turn to short-term sources of accommodation. Rents in England and Wales rose for the sixth month in a row in July with the capital seeing the largest gains, according to the Buy-to-Let Index from LSL Property Services, which is published today. Average [...]
MPs slam private finance initiative and call for liabilities to go on balance sheet August 18, 2011 THE COST of building schools and hospitals using the controversial private finance initiative (PFI) should be included on the government’s balance sheet, a group of influential MPs will say today. In a highly critical report, the Treasury select committee will say that PFI does not provide taxpayers with good value for money and recommend that [...]
Banks should take more risk, says Bank’s Haldane August 18, 2011 BANKS must overcome “psychological scarring” induced by the financial crisis and start taking more risk, a senior Bank of England official said yesterday. Andrew Haldane said banks should pay smaller dividends to shareholders in order to meet capital requirements while also increasing risk. Yet he also suggested that capital requirements could be relaxed. “The Financial [...]
Mortgage lending slows in UK August 18, 2011 The rate of UK house-buying is set to fall again in the next few months, experts warned yesterday, after new data showed the faltering recovery in UK mortgages ground to a halt in July. Bob Pannell, chief economist of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), said Britain had been hit by the effects of the [...]
