Building bonanza at Barratt as profits jump 45 per cent September 9, 2015 Success in the housebuilding market continues apace, after Barratt reported another jump in profits. The figures This kind of fare has become standard among housebuilders in recent years: profit before tax jumped 44.8 per cent to £565.5m in the year to the end of June, while revenues rose 19.1 per cent to £3.76bn and basic earnings per share jumped 45.8 per [...]
Bank to announce rates decision as China woes weigh – London Report September 6, 2015 THE BANK of England will be centre of attention on Thursday when it provides a simultaneous release of its monetary policy decision and minutes from its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting. The MPC is almost certain to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.5 per cent, with worries about China and oil price declines meaning other [...]
London property focus on North Greenwich: Affordable homes by the riverside September 4, 2015 Fancy a night out in North Greenwich? No, not that one with the market, the chapels, the observatory and the ship. The other one with the O2 Arena and… not much else. It’s a hard sell, truth be told, so imagine how much harder it must be to convince someone to live there. Once a [...]
UK house prices: Persimmon share price dips despite fecund first half August 18, 2015 Another day, another housebuilder boasting impressive growth, after Persimmon said profits rose 31 per cent to £2.72.8m in the six months to the end of June. The figures You read that right: profits before tax rose 31 per cent to £272.8m, up from £208.9m last year. Meanwhile revenues rose 11 per cent to £1.3bn, while underlying earnings per share [...]
Housebuilder shares drop on “vanilla” house price growth August 18, 2015 Shares in the UK's largest listed housebuilders fell today, despite official figures showing annual house price growth rose to 5.7 per cent in June. Shares in Barratt fell 1.45 per cent to 643.5p in late morning trading, while Berkeley Group was down just under one per cent at 3,422p. Meanwhile, shares in Persimmon, which posted [...]
Housebuilder shares rise as government launches £36m fund to build first-time buyer homes on brownfield sites August 10, 2015 Shares in the UK's largest housebuilders rose today after the government unveiled two funds collectively worth £36m aimed at building homes for first-time buyers on brownfield sites. Communities secretary Greg Clark said a £26m fund will be used to acquire brownfield sites to provide land for starter homes, while another, £10m, fund is aimed at [...]
FTSE falls despite rally after Bank’s dovish rate update – London Report August 7, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index slipped yesterday, weighed down by weakness in miners and insurer RSA, though it briefly rallied off lows after a broadly dovish update from the Bank of England. The FTSE 100 index ended down 5.32 points, or 0.1 per cent lower at 6,747.09 points, turning slightly lower after a negative open on [...]
Bank of England: Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Barratt Developments share prices rise after not-so-super Thursday August 6, 2015 Shares in housebuilders were boosted today after the Bank of England's historic "data dump" struck an unexpectedly dovish note. Taylor Wimpey shares rose 2.19 per cent to 200.5p per share, while Persimmon was 1.22 per cent higher at 2,079p per share and Barratt Developments was 1.4 per cent higher at 650p per share. Read more: Mortgage [...]
Barratt’s plans for 135 homes in Battersea given the green light August 6, 2015 BARRATT London has been granted planning permission to build 135 homes in Battersea, becoming the latest in a raft of schemes set to change the skyline on the south bank of the Thames. The London arm of the UK’s biggest housebuilder Barratt Developments plans to build a 28-storey tower at 12-14 Lombard Road on the [...]
Lloyds, GSK and Vodafone: The 10 shares pension drawdown investors are buying up August 5, 2015 Four months after pension savers were given freedoms allowing them to withdraw their savings and invest it into other areas, they have yet to spend their pension pots on those Ferraris everyone was worried about when the freedoms were first announced. Or that's according to financial adviser Hargreaves Lansdown, anyway, which has listed the top [...]