Qualcomm to buy Atheros in $3.1bn deal January 5, 2011 QUALCOMM plans to buy Atheros Communications for roughly $3.2bn (£2.1bn) in cash, showing its determination to become a major player in supplying chips for smartphones and tablet computers. Qualcomm is clearly betting that the deal – at a 21.6 per cent premium to Atheros’ share price before talk of the takeover began to circulate – [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CREDIT SUISSE TO ISSUE COCOS EARLY Credit Suisse’s chief executive said he hoped to begin issuing billions of dollars in contingent-capital bonds in the next year to help shore up the bank’s financial strength well ahead of new Swiss regulations. Brady Dougan also defended Credit Suisse’s decision to award one-off payments to about [...]
PROPERTY NEWS December 9, 2010 DEMAND FOR PROPERTY AT QUARTER’S HIGH Demand for property is on the rise for the first time in four months, according to the National Association of Estate Agents. House-hunters increased in November, attracted to falling prices, while supply remains static. Close to Christmas, there are usually fewer sales to avoid family disruption; people also tend [...]
Builder of the Gherkin to move into house market December 9, 2010 NORDIC building firm Skanska launched a UK housebuilding arm yesterday in an effort to cash in on what it sees as a gap in supply. The builder of the Gherkin and Heron Tower skyscrapers said it hopes to sell 800 homes a year by 2015. “The financial crisis and the dramatic decline in the housing [...]
Home-builders ramp up incentives to lure hard-up first-time buyers December 2, 2010 HOME-BUILDERS have always offered buyers deals, but some are more valuable than others. Take, for example, the West Bromwich Building Society’s offer in 2004 of a free Rover car worth over £7,000 – a year before the car-maker went into administration. The downturn has left house-builders with new-builds sitting empty all over the country, and [...]
PROPERTY NEWS November 18, 2010 RENTS ON THE RISE Rents rose for the ninth consecutive month in October to £691 while tenant arrears fell significantly for the second month in a row, according to the latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services. Unpaid rent totalled £221m, down from £229.3m in the previous month. This accounted for just 9.3 per cent [...]
Gloom hinders Barratt sales November 17, 2010 BUILDER Barratt Developments yesterday reported an autumn slowdown in reservations, as an uncertain economic environment and limited mortgage availability continued to weigh on consumer sentiment. Net reservations per active sales site stood at 0.45 compared with 0.55 a year ago as homebuyers took longer to commit to buying ahead of a government announcement on spending [...]
Barratt sees sales slow in tough market November 17, 2010 Barratt Developments has reported an autumn slowdown in house reservations as economic uncertainty continues to weigh on buyers. Net private reservations per active site stood at 0.45 compared with 0.55 in the period a year ago, as buyers took longer to commit. The company said last month’s spending review had drained some confidence from the [...]
Drinks offers give a boost to Luminar October 21, 2010 NIGHTCLUB operator Luminar said first half sales fell 21 per cent though recent trading had improved. Luminar, which runs the Oceana and Liquid nightclubs, said yesterday it made a pre-tax profit of £1.8m in the first half of the year, compared to a profit of £5.2m a year earlier. Sales were also down 16.9 per [...]
Barratt beats forecasts but warns of dip September 8, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments said concerns about the economy and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported better-than-expected full-year profits. “It’s early days in the autumn-selling season but so far private reservation rates are in line with expectations and prices are holding up,” chief executive Mark [...]