Three ways to lower capital gains tax bills July 27, 2011 CAPITAL gains tax (CGT) soon adds up. Upon exceeding your allowance of £10,600, you will be charged either 18 per cent if a basic rate taxpayer, or 28 per cent CGT if a higher or additional rate taxpayer. There are a number of ways in which you can mitigate the pain from this second and [...]
It’s as if the coalition wanted to fail July 25, 2011 IMAGINE you were trying to cripple private sector growth and throttle the recovery. Yes, I know only a fool would want to do that. But seriously – what would you do? Here are a few ideas. For a start, you would try and tie up businesses with as much red tape as possible. You would [...]
Nervous FTSE ends higher as EU solution for Greece looms July 21, 2011 FINANCIALS drove gains on Britain’s top share index yesterday, as hopes a solution could be found to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis boosted investor sentiment. The UK’s benchmark index closed up 46.07 points or 0.8 per cent at 5,899.89, having endured a choppy session, trading in a 137 point range as nervous investors jostled positions awaiting [...]
Down on the farm for the (lucrative) good life July 21, 2011 MOST of us have days when the fresh air and slower pace of country life appeals. Days when we would rather watch wheat sway in the breeze than its future price move on a Bloomberg terminal. This need not be a pipe dream though. It’s not just the wheat product’s price that is rising at [...]
Commodities boost FTSE rise as China data elevates miners July 13, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 bounced yesterday, led by commodity stocks as economic data from China and soothing words from the US Federal Reserve raised hopes that stagnation in the global economic recovery might prove short-lived. Having fallen near five per cent over the previous three days, the mining sector rallied 1.8 per cent after China’s GDP [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 29, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BRITISH LAND TO BUY RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX IN THE CITY British Land is in advanced talks to buy a City of London residential complex, in its first acquisition under a strategy to focus on the booming market for prime homes in the capital. The UK’s second-largest property company has agreed to buy Wardrobe Court [...]
“FAIR SHARES” PLAN June 23, 2011 Q. WHAT’S THE PLAN? A. The idea is to privatise the government’s 83 per cent stake in RBS and its 41 per cent stake in Lloyds by divvying up the shares and giving them to taxpayers. People would not have to pay for them up front but would pay a floor price to the Treasury [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 15, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CQS SHUTS FUND BUILT ON SUBPRIME TO NEWCOMERS CQS, the London-based credit hedge fund that is one of the biggest of its kind globally, is preparing to shut to new investors its asset-backed securities fund – known for its successful bets in the US subprime mortgage market. The move marks a further step [...]
Prada’s HK IPO retail demand off to slow start on tax concerns June 15, 2011 Milan-based fashion house Prada has got off to a slow start for the retail portion of its up to $2.6bn (£1.6bn) Hong Kong IPO, with some investors put off by having to pay Italian capital gains tax, brokers said on Wednesday. Retail investors are lively players in Hong Kong initial public offerings, especially for popular [...]
Polar Capital triples its profits June 14, 2011 Fund manager Polar Capital beat forecasts for full-year profit yesterday and said assets surged over the past two months as client inflows helped it through May’s choppy markets. Assets jumped 11 per cent to $4.3bn between the end of March and the end of May, as clients invested in its technology, Japan, insurance and healthcare [...]