Chinese local government intervenes in Evergrande crisis September 27, 2021 While Beijing has stayed quiet on the Evergrande debt crisis at least two local governments in China have seized control of company funds. A housing bureau in Guangzhou asked an Evergrande subsidiary to put presale revenue from a halted development project into a state-controlled account to protect the interests of homebuyers, the Financial Times first [...]
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust performs below expectations September 27, 2021 Octopus’ infrastructure arm has fallen short of targets for energy production and revenues in the first half of 2021. The green start up has reported profit of £4.75m for the period, treating investors to a dividend payout of 5 pence per share, but performing below expectations for the period. Operational portfolio generated 144GWh of electricity [...]
Cop26 sponsor NatWest named and shamed for links to Arctic oil and gas drillers September 27, 2021 NatWest is under scrutiny from campaigners due to it financing fossil fuel developers while sponsoring the Cop26 climate summit NatWest is the banking sponsor of the Glasgow conference — where countries will pledge to reduce carbon emissions as part of a wideranging global effort — but was still providing underwriting and loans to energy companies [...]
Aldi plans £1.3bn expansion with 2,000 new jobs and 100 additional stores September 27, 2021 Cut price British supermarket Aldi is planning a £1.3bn investment after sales surged to record levels in the 2020 financial year. Britain’s lowest-priced supermarket plans to create 2,000 new jobs, open 100 additional stores and expand its logistics infrastructure to include a 1.3m square foot site in Leicestershire over the next two years. It comes after [...]
Exclusive: Waterloo and City line set to fully reopen “very, very soon” September 27, 2021 Transport for London’s (TfL) Commissioner has said that crucial commuter artery the Waterloo & City line could fully reopen by the end of the year. “The fact that the City is now getting busier means we are actively looking at when we can increase to full service on the Waterloo & City line so I [...]
Keir Starmer’s 14,000 word memo sums up the Labour party’s existential challenge September 27, 2021 We are in the throes of the Labour Party annual conference in Brighton, the opposition’s seaside shindig where members mix with party grandees, policy is debated and the would-be government parades its show ponies for the media and the electorate. It provides an opportune platform for individual shadow ministers to catch the attention of the [...]
Taking off: City Airport chief on the return of business travel and the future of the Square Mile September 27, 2021 It’s been a quiet 18 months at London City airport, the Docklands-located airfield beloved of City slickers jetting into Canary Wharf and the Square Mile. Thankfully for chief executive Robert Sinclair, however, those days now look increasingly as if they are over for good. “We’ve certainly seen a material increase in passenger volumes from July [...]
London will continue to see weakest house price growth until 2024 September 27, 2021 London is set to underperform the rest of the country on house price growth until 2024, when growth will accelerate. Prices in the city have been forecast to end the year up 1.5 per cent, according to the latest housing market forecast from estate agents Hamptons. London prices are then predicted to rise by one per [...]
Renters return to London with a vengeance as City workers want to walk to work September 27, 2021 London prices have recorded the strongest quarter of growth in over a decade as the capital’s prime rental market now leads the recovery. A return of office workers and employees relocating for work meant prices were up 2.9 per cent in the third quarter, the strongest quarter of growth since March 2011, according to Savills. [...]
Furlough worth £70bn but unemployment fears mount as scheme ends on Thursday September 27, 2021 The furlough scheme cost the government £70bn and has been successful at preventing unemployment from skyrocketing, but concerns are sharpening about the jobs market’s ability to stand on its own two feet as the scheme ends this week. The initiative cost roughly the equivalent of 18 months’ of funding for UK schools, according to research [...]
