Entrepreneurs finally fighting back February 29, 2012 BUSINESS people have a tendency to run scared of political debate. They rarely want to criticise politicians on the record (though they are often extremely outspoken in private). They very rarely agree to give interviews to discuss controversial subjects. This is a great tragedy: capitalists are failing to speak up for capitalism, allowing those who [...]
Mortgages up as stamp duty return nears February 29, 2012 UK MORTGAGE lending surged in January and consumer credit also expanded, official figures showed yesterday, though economists do not expect the jump to be sustained. Analysts believe loans rose because the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers ends later this month, prompting a short-term rise in loan applications, though numbers remain well below pre-recession levels. [...]
Housebuilders should be re-evaluated February 29, 2012 PERSIMMON, the UK’s biggest housebuilder by value, is experiencing improving fortunes like most in the sector – but it is still a shadow of its former self. Pre-tax profits, which were 55 per cent higher at £148.1m, are nothing compared to the £600m or so that was the norm in 2006. Still, the outlook for [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 27, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES GORDON GEKKO TELLS WALL ST GREED IS NOT GOOD Michael Douglas is playing a new and unlikely role as spokesman for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in its war against corruption on Wall Street. The Hollywood actor – famous for his line “greed is good” in the 1987 film Wall Street – [...]
Housebuilder Bovis hunts for growth in south as profits rise February 27, 2012 HOUSEBUILDER Bovis Homes reported a 74 per cent jump in profit yesterday and predicted a strong 2012 from its focus on the relatively buoyant market for family homes in the affluent south of England. “It was a great year in terms of driving profitability back through the business … and we are expecting a stable [...]
Banks line up for more cheap cash as ECB offers new loans February 26, 2012 BANKS are set to line up for more easy money on Wednesday when the European Central Bank offers an unlimited volume of cheap loans for the second time in as many months. Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland have both said they are attracted by the so-called three-year Long-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) because [...]
Which asset is the true safe haven? GOLD OR SHARES February 26, 2012 TOM WINNIFRITH WE ARE entering an inflationary environment. This is the 1970s all over again. Across the globe governments are relaxing monetary policy. In China and India this is an attempt to keep their economies growing rapidly. In the West it is a desperate attempt to breathe life into economies which face structural issues no-one [...]
House prices flat as Britons stuck renting February 26, 2012 HALF of Britons do not expect to buy a house until they are in their forties, a survey showed today, while the housing market stayed flat again through February. Average rents rose to £890 per month at the end of 2011, but 61 per cent of renters cannot afford to buy, according to a survey [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES RUSSIAN LINK IN FRAUD CLAIM A $150m fraud allegedly attempted by a former fund manager at Threadneedle Asset Management is linked to a trade in more than a billion Argentinian warrants by former staff at Otkritie, the Russian financial services group. Threadneedle confirmed on Tuesday that a former trader had been dismissed in [...]
Barratt sees swing back into profits February 22, 2012 BARRATT Developments swung back into profit in the first half of the year thanks to its increased focus on higher margin regions, building houses rather than flats and developing low-cost land bought after the 2008 property crash. Shares, which are up almost 50 per cent since Christmas, rose almost eight per cent yesterday after the [...]