Why UK recovery could rescue the great British banking sector sell-off September 2, 2013 ROLL up, roll up. Britain’s banks are up for sale. This month and next, the Lloyds privatisation will compete for attention with Barclays’s £5.8bn rights issue. Then there’s the initial public offering triplets: Williams & Glyn, Virgin Money and TSB – all set to hit the market with aplomb. And that’s before RBS has turned [...]
Letters to the editor for – 03/09 – UK risk disease, Help to Buy, Best of Twitter September 2, 2013 UK risk disease [Re: Both Left and Right should fear the threat to medical research in the UK, yesterday] London has the capacity to build a world class cluster for biomedical innovation. But John Hulsman highlights a stark example of a risk averse culture in this country – a disease we need to treat if [...]
House prices continue to rise on Help to Buy scheme August 30, 2013 House prices are up again in August, by 0.6 per cent. That's in line with analyst predictions, and slightly lower than last month's 0.9 per cent growth (release). Nationwide's figures are provided on a seasonally adjusted basis, while nominal average house prices have actually dropped slightly, down from £170,825 to £170,514. £311 isn't a discount [...]
Governor stands firm on plan for UK interest rates August 28, 2013 INTEREST rates could stay at rock bottom even after unemployment falls below seven per cent, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said yesterday. In a bid to convince sceptical markets he really is serious about keeping rates down for the next three years, Carney said he would look for a wide range of evidence that [...]
Ocado and Sports Direct: better to arrive late than not at all August 26, 2013 Whenever bankers are asked to explain why London’s market for new issues – the IPO market – nearly collapsed altogether last year, they cite a number of factors that always include the poor performance of a number of high-profile flotations. The lists are long and varied but almost everybody’s bete noirs include Sports Direct, Mike [...]
Brand Index: Blackberry’s new model failed to stem its brand decline August 26, 2013 THERE was a spike for BlackBerry on Twitter on Monday with 41 per cent of the UK Twitter population exposed to messages about the brand. They were of course hearing the news that the mobile phone manufacturer is setting up a committee to explore potential business model options, including selling off the company. So what [...]
There’s no point in a financial services Trip Advisor unless reputation matters August 22, 2013 ONCE again, a major mis-selling scandal has broken out, with 13 high street banks and credit card issuers facing a £1.3bn redress bill for mis-sold card protection policies. No amount of financial regulation seems to stop the flow. Until 1986, there were no mis-selling scandals. The sales of financial products were regulated by contract law [...]
Letters to the editor – 22/08 – Global competition, HS2 debate, Best of Twitter August 21, 2013 Global competition [Re: We should be glad that foreign firms want to buy British companies, yesterday] I agree with Tim Worstall. It is essential that financiers and investors have a viable route to a profitable exit. And a foreign sale is often an important avenue. UK venture capital typically wishes to sell on in four to [...]
UK ships gold to Switzerland in Asian rush August 19, 2013 DURING the first half of this year alone, the UK exported 797 tonnes of gold to Switzerland, far outstripping the 72 tonnes traded in the whole of last year. The value of the gold exported between January and June was around £25bn, and the Macquarie Group believe that is being sold to satisfy soaring demand [...]
Buyers flock to market but supply shortage hits sales August 18, 2013 IN THE year to July, the number of first-time buyers in London rose by an astonishing 109.1 per cent. According to information released today by estate agent Haart, there has been a 27.9 per cent rise in new buyers across the country, and a 60.3 per cent increase in London alone. Despite this surge in [...]