Loan export agency to dish out £1.5bn overseas to aid UK firms December 5, 2012 FOREIGN companies will be given up to £1.5bn of loans by the UK government to encourage them to buy British goods, under plans announced yesterday. UK Export Finance, led by minister Vince Cable, will get the cash from Treasury coffers to provide loans of up to £50m to any firm overseas that wants to buy [...]
What does the chancellor’s budget mean for you? December 5, 2012 Catherine Gannon, 50 Managing director of law firm Gannon Having started her own business 10 years ago, she earns around £100,000, though says this is getting more difficult to achieve, and while she has a share portfolio, she doesn’t have much in the way of a pension plan. Lives with her two children aged 10 [...]
Topshop seals US future with J Crew owner December 4, 2012 RETAIL magnate Sir Philip Green is close to selling a stake in his family’s fast-growing Topshop fashion empire to a US private equity firm. Sir Philip is in advanced talks to sell up to 25 per cent of his family’s interest in high street labels Topman and Topshop, in a deal which values the two [...]
Paragon eyes bank licence to boost lending December 3, 2012 MORTGAGE provider Paragon, a buy-to-let specialist, has confirmed it is talks to buy Hampshire Trust, a private bank offering, in a bid at gaining a retail banking licence. Paragon yesterday said it was in exclusive talks to buy the business, which offers funding to property developers and solicitors, from the National Counties Building Society. The [...]
State urged to support first time buyers December 2, 2012 GIVING support to first time buyers (FTBs) would ease the pressure on the hardest hit sector in the housing market and give a strong boost to the industry, economists from the Ernst and Young Item Club argue today. The respected analysts are calling on George Osborne to reinstate the stamp duty holiday for FTBs on [...]
How to plan for the Autumn Statement December 2, 2012 WITH so much focus on tax in the past few months, it would be no surprise if this week’s Autumn Statement sets taxpayers up for a long and cold winter. Its contents are as yet unknown, and George Osborne has vowed to keep his silence ahead of Wednesday’s Statement. That, however, should not prevent taxpayers [...]
Highest number of first time buyers in London since 2009 November 26, 2012 TEN thousand first-time buyers took out a mortgage in London during the third quarter of the year, according to Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data out yesterday. The figure was the highest on the CML’s records since the fourth quarter of 2009, yet its research also revealed significant barriers to getting on the property ladder [...]
Record London rents keep up investor profits November 15, 2012 LONDON rents hit another record high in October as landlords celebrate solid returns on investment, according to the LSL buy-to-let index published today. Average monthly rents in the capital jumped 0.9 per cent to £1,102, breaking the £1,100 mark for the first time. That represents a seven per cent hike on the year, and holds [...]
Great Portland raises £140m for shopping spree in the West End November 14, 2012 GREAT PORTLAND Estates yesterday announced it had raised £140.6m from a placing of shares that will help fuel another shopping spree in London’s West End. The London-focused developer, which already owns swathes of West End property, said it plans to use the proceeds to buy “unloved assets”, let on cheap rents which it can refurbish [...]
Surveys reveal housing sector activity boost November 12, 2012 THE UK’S ailing housing sector has begun to show signs of life, according to two widely-regarded reports released yesterday and this morning. Interest in residential properties from potential buyers grew at its fastest rate for nearly three years in October, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed this morning. The number of agreed sales [...]