Eurozone beats FTSE 100 as miners drag on index – London Report December 1, 2015 Falls in mining company BHP Billiton and Aberdeen Asset Management yesterday and a failure to benefit from a weak euro hindered the FTSE 100 as it lagged behind its European counterparts. The FTSE 100 index was down 19.06 points, or down 0.3 per cent, at 6,356.09 by the close, lagging sharp gains in top Eurozone [...]
The Autumn Statement contained some significant wins for business and the City November 29, 2015 George bails himself out” was the front page headline of this very paper last Thursday as businesses up and down the country digested the impact of the Autumn Statement. While the U-turn on tax credits dominated much of the coverage, there was a lot of content announced by the chancellor from the despatch box that [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Changes to bring in £5bn a year from tax avoidance November 25, 2015 The government is aiming to bring in £5bn more a year through tackling tax avoidance by 2019-20. In the Autumn Statement chancellor George Osborne confirmed £800m more would be spent on tackling evasion and non-compliance through to 2020. The government is also set to build a digital tax system to help fight avoidance and to [...]
Bad news for landlords as George Osborne hikes stamp duty for buy-to-let homes November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has said he will raise stamp duty on buy-to-let homes by three per cent. During his Autumn Statement today, Osborne said many buy-to-let and second homes were bought by people who "are not resident in this country". The new rules will be introduced in April 2016. Read more: Stamp duty changes are a kick [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s speech transcript in full including stamp duty, business rates and corporation tax announcements November 25, 2015 Mr Speaker, this Spending Review delivers on the commitment we made to the British people that we would put security first. To protect our economic security, by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. To protect our national security, by defending our country’s interests abroad and keeping our [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne must end the distortion caused by stamp duty hikes for high value residential property November 22, 2015 In recent years, there has been a perfect storm of changes to residential property taxation: from the introduction of the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings to offshore Capital Gains Tax, from clampdowns on corporate vehicles buying property to the removal of buy-to-let relief. But one change in particular threatens to tip the market over [...]
Locked & loaded: Is buying a gun a good investment? November 19, 2015 Is a gun a good investment? “Only if it’s in tip-top condition,” says Giles Marriott, who runs the eponymous family dealer business. “The condition needs to be impeccable, and it must be from one of the best makers. Take a bet on a second-rate gun, and you’re playing a dangerous game.” If you know what [...]
What will secondary markets look like in crowdfunding and P2P? And what should investors be thinking about? November 19, 2015 Imagine you’d loaned money to a company via a debt-based crowdfunding platform. The term of the loan was 10 years, but after five, despite earning a decent return on it, you decide you want the original loan amount back. This is where a secondary market comes in, allowing you to sell your previously issued security [...]
Challenger bank Aldermore looking as safe as houses in third quarter results, as residential mortgages push up lending, but share price drops November 12, 2015 Aldermore has today reported loan growth of about £1bn over the last nine months, bringing total net loans to customers to £5.8bn, an increase of 20 per cent from the end of December. In its third-quarter results for 2015, the challenger bank, which was set up by former Barclays executive Phillip Monks, said it was on [...]
FTSE closes up despite losses from Sainsbury – London Report November 12, 2015 FALLS in supermarket, miner and housebuilders’ shares yesterday did not prevent the FTSE 100 rising marginally. The UK’s blue-chip index rose 0.35 per cent to 6,297 points. The largest casualty, by some way, was Sainsbury, which reported profits had slumped 18 per cent and slashed its interim dividend by a third. Sainsbury’s group sales were down [...]