Kickstart institutional investment to build new homes for generation rent October 29, 2013 INVESTORS have long enjoyed a love/hate relationship with property. An asset class dominated by commercial real estate, it delivers diversification and a reasonable yield in the good times. But in difficult times, upward-only rent reviews vanish, and fund managers are left wrestling with high voids and bad debts. Residential real estate, meanwhile, has largely been [...]
London house prices to keep rising due to chronic undersupply October 28, 2013 The London housing market will continue to experience significant undersupply in the coming years and will retain its robust stance, according to research by Deutsche Bank. The bank expects UK listed house builders with scale and history in the region to see strong returns in their London divisions. It also expects new entrants such as [...]
The Sky Sports boss who is set to resume the battle with BT October 28, 2013 The TV sports giant’s managing director Barney Francis tells David Hellier that the secret to success is to keep growing in the face of increasing competition WHEN you’re head of sport at a company like Sky, the satellite broadcaster where covering live elite sport is a major driver of the business, there’s barely time to [...]
Nick Clegg is wrong: English schools should have more freedom not less October 24, 2013 IN WHAT seemed like a surprise U-turn, deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has departed from previous coalition education policy, arguing that academies must hire officially-qualified teachers and follow the national curriculum. This shift isn’t too surprising, however. Clegg is repeating what was decided at the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference. But while this makes his announcement [...]
A sci-fi treat with plenty of brains October 24, 2013 FILM ENDER’S GAME Cert 12a | By Simon Thomson Four Stars ENDER’S Game is a science fiction adventure about a special boy, sent to a special school, where he is trained to be a ruthless war commander. Basically, it’s Harry Potter. If he’d been sent to a military academy. In space. The internet has been [...]
EU commission authorises investigation into Holcim-Cemex deal October 18, 2013 The European Commission has authorised anti-trust regulators to investigate the planned acquisition of cement giant Holcim's Spanish operations, by Mexican cement company Cemex. In a press release issued on Friday, the Commission asserted the deal could threaten competition in the Spanish cement market. The Commission will ask Cemex to notify the project. The acquisition of [...]
Reform the regulators to ensure markets work in the consumer’s interest October 17, 2013 WHEN should governments intervene in markets? George Osborne recently described the Help to Buy scheme as a “necessary intervention” to fix a specific market failure – the shortage of high loan-to-value mortgages. Aside from concerns that this may pump up a housing bubble, Osborne’s comments – and Ed Miliband’s earlier proposal to inject more competition [...]
City Index hires chairman as it rejigs managers October 14, 2013 CITY Index, the spread betting group two-thirds owned by Michael Spencer of Icap, is bringing in an executive chairman to try to improve its performance and to focus more on international expansion. The group is hiring Mark Preston, a banking industry specialist, who quit Lloyds Bank before its ill-fated merger with HBoS. Preston will work [...]
IAG denounces Alitalia rescue plans as illegal October 14, 2013 INTERNATIONAL Airlines Group yesterday denounced Italian plans to rescue Alitalia as illegal, as shareholders were due to vote on a capital increase to keep the near-bankrupt flag carrier flying. IAG, which owns British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia, urged the European Commission to intervene over the Italian government’s attempts to stitch together a bailout for [...]
Miliband’s policies have already damaged Britain’s economy October 14, 2013 EVERY so often, financial markets spectacularly misjudge an issue. One such blunder took place immediately after Ed Miliband announced his policy to freeze gas and electricity prices for the first 18 months of a Labour government. Instead of heading for the exits, investors sat on their hands. Shares barely fell that first afternoon, despite extensive [...]