Mortgage approvals drop as housing activity slump shows little sign of picking up August 24, 2018 Mortgage lending dipped in July, despite an uptick in homeowners seeking cheaper interest rates ahead of the Bank of England rate rise earlier this month. Approvals for mortgages fell 4.3 per cent year-on-year in July, having risen to a nine-month high in June, in a fresh sign that housing activity in the UK's property market [...]
House of Fraser owed millions to major brands before collapse August 18, 2018 House of Fraser racked up debts of almost £500m in the run-up to its collapse, owing major designer brands such as Gucci, Armani and Mulberry. Administrators Ernst & Young (EY) have reported that the chain’s creditors are owed sums totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, with more than 1,000 suppliers set to be out of [...]
House of Fraser could have been sold for £1, EY letter reveals August 17, 2018 Beleaguered department store House of Fraser could have been sold for just £1 ahead of its acquisition by billionaire Mike Ashley's Sports Direct brand, administrators EY revealed today. The retailer saw a £14.6m drop in profits in the 13 weeks to the end of April, four months before it entered administration. Turnover also declined 7.7 per cent [...]
House prices in the capital sink to lowest level since financial crisis August 15, 2018 London house prices have fallen at their fastest annual rate since the financial crisis, dragging the UK property market down to its lowest levels of growth in five years. House prices in London tumbled 0.7 per cent in the year to June 2018, marking the sharpest decline in annual growth since a 3.2 per cent [...]
Mike Ashley is now the high street’s emperor August 12, 2018 Events around House of Fraser moved so fast on Friday morning that people could have left their house to the news that the retailer had collapsed into administration and would have got to work in time to hear it had been rescued. Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct swooped to the department store’s aid, paying £90m for [...]
House of Fraser appoints administrators EY after talks fail | City A.M. August 10, 2018 House of Fraser is calling in EY as administrators after talks with investors and creditors had “not concluded in a solvent solution”. In a statement to the Luxembourg Stock Exchange the department store said administrators had confirmed that the business would continue trading, including all stores and offices, while they attempted to complete a sale. [...]
Turf war: Law firm bosses see Big Four as ‘threat’ as they aggressively expand into legal sector | City A.M. August 8, 2018 The City’s top law firms are keeping a wary eye on the Big Four accountancy giants as the beancounters expand into the $600bn (£465bn) global legal services market. Managing partner of City law firm Fieldfisher Michael Chissick said: “They have very ambitious plans, that isn’t in doubt, audit is in decline and it is low [...]
London’s audit giants are muscling in on law firms August 8, 2018 The City's top law firms are keeping a wary eye on the Big Four accountancy giants as the beancounters expand into the $600bn (£465bn) global legal services market. Managing partner of City law firm Fieldfisher Michael Chissick said: “They have very ambitious plans, that isn’t in doubt, audit is in decline and it is low [...]
UK services PMI slides in July following ‘disappointing’ business growth and job creation | City A.M. August 3, 2018 The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), seen as a barometer of economic health, fell in July to 54.3 from June’s 54.9. The index signalled the slowest expansion of service sector output for three months, raising questions over the Bank of England’s (BoE) decision to raise interest rates yesterday from 0.5 per cent [...]
Mortgage approvals jump to five-month high as subdued market picks up | City A.M. July 30, 2018 Mortgage approvals hit a five-month high in June as Britain’s housing market shows signs of recovery from a slowdown earlier this year. British lenders approved 65,619 mortgages in June, rising 1.5 per cent from 64,684 in May and reaching the highest level since January, according to data from the Bank of England (BoE). Meanwhile, the [...]