Equistone exits UK energy firm at a premium February 18, 2013 EQUISTONE, the private equity group, yesterday exited its majority stake in oil and gas company Hydrasun after selling it to a Bahraini-listed investment company. The sale, which comes over five years after Equistone backed a management buyout of the firm, represents more than a 2.5x premium to the firm’s original money investment of £38m. The [...]
Retail gloom as UK stays at home February 17, 2013 SHOPPERS have been deserting the UK’s struggling retailers since the start of the year, adding to gloom in the sec- tor as sales fall for the first time in years and well-established firms col- lapse into administration. Total UK retail footfall sunk 4.6 per cent over the year to January, data from the British Retail [...]
Work placements for the unemployed make a lot of sense February 12, 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT remains obscenely high in today’s stagnant Britain, and far too many people – young and old – have been on the dole or on other out of work benefits for far too long. Anything that allows them to break out of their present predicament should be welcome. The government should be able to ask [...]
House prices climb steadily through 2012 February 12, 2013 HOUSE prices chugged upwards steadily during last year, according to official statistics out yesterday. The average UK home was worth 3.3 per cent more at the end of 2012 than at end of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its house price index, up from the 2.2 per cent annual growth seen [...]
3i targets more sell-offs after £615m disposal February 12, 2013 BRITISH investment giant 3i yesterday sold its plastic equipment business Mold-Masters to US rival Milacron for C$975m (£615m), pleasing investors who want the business to pay down its debt pile. Proceeds from the deal will be around £219m – 2.6 times the initial £84m investment 3i made in October 2007. The company said there had [...]
Barclays leads FTSE to top day of month so far February 12, 2013 ASURGE in Barclays’ shares led the FTSE 100 past the psychologically important 6,300 level yesterday, as the blue chip bank’s planned overhaul raised hopes for the troubled sector’s revival. Barclays gained 8.4 per cent, leading FTSE 100 gainers and adding over 12 points to the index alone, after unveiling plans to slash annual costs by [...]
Horse row no laughing matter – but NHS scandal even worse February 11, 2013 IF you agree to sell something, it is your responsibility to ensure that the product or service you deliver is exactly the one you and your customer agreed to. That applies to financial products just as much as to food. That is why I disagree with those who believe that the horse meat “contamination” row [...]
Mortgage aid schemes help housebuilder Bellway grow February 7, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway said yesterday demand for its properties is rising, helped by new sales outlets and the government’s NewBuy mortgage scheme for first-time buyers. The firm said it completed sales on 2,597 homes in the six months to the end of January, a rise of 5.8 per cent on last year. The average price has [...]
Boris wants to keep property tax in London February 5, 2013 BORIS Johnson will tonight call on the government to let London retain the tax charged on property sales in the capital, so he can use the money to stimulate housebuilding in the capital. The Mayor will tell the Chartered Institute of Housing that if City Hall took control of all the stamp duty receipts raised [...]
Give London back its stamp duty to reinvest in growth February 5, 2013 FIFTY years ago the average London house cost roughly the same as a month’s rent in some parts of North London today. Notwithstanding the effect of inflation, that cannot be sustainable, socially or economically. Among the range of housing challenges we face, the greatest by far is simply to build more homes. That’s why Boris [...]