Focus on Ealing: West is the best July 10, 2011 Office Space WITH the clamour and disruption of Crossrail making itself known across central London, investors can seek consolation in turning their thoughts to its profitable prospects in one of London’s most tranquil outposts. Ealing, dubbed “Queen of Suburbs” by no less an authority than Nikolaus Pevsner, will benefit from not one but two Crossrail [...]
The big picture: London property July 10, 2011 Office Space IT’S a game of two halves for central London’s commercial property market: an early trip to the showers for the office sector, while the retail sector is playing into extra time. Across London’s core office pitches, from the financial zones of Canary Wharf and the City, to the media and head office blocks [...]
The 9 projects that show the future of commercial space July 10, 2011 Office Space ACROSS the capital, thrilling new commercial buildings are springing up, from the City’s twenty-first century office towers to Europe’s largest urban shopping centre at Stratford. Andrew Deverell-Smith, managing director of property recruitment specialists Deverell Smith Recruitment, says “for those of us with so much at stake in the property industry, it is refreshing [...]
FTSE solid as investors eye US jobs data July 8, 2011 The FTSE 100 started out on the front foot today as investors awaited key US jobs data to assess the strength of the country’s economic recovery. Positive performances on Asian markets and on Wall Street buoyed sentiment in London with the non farms payroll figures to set the tone for trading later. Greece will also [...]
British Land buys Virgin Active clubs in £179m deal July 8, 2011 Property investor British Land bought a portfolio of 17 freehold and leasehold Virgin Active premium racquet clubs from French bank Societe Generale for £179m. It said the clubs – about half of them within London’s M25 ringroad – would be let to Virgin Active on new, 25-year leases, pending its acquisition of Esporta. British Land [...]
NO PLAN B FOR BRITAIN SAY TORY BELIEVERS July 7, 2011 DON’T have a business card on you? No problem – just write your name on the back of a £50 note and drop that in the hat for the City lunchtime raffle instead. Yes, it could only be the annual fundraising gathering of The Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association, where the Tory body’s [...]
Theo Fennell sets sights on profit fuelled by China July 7, 2011 JEWELLERY designer Theo Fennell has pledged to take his company back into the black, with China a main driver of sales. In the 12 weeks to the end of June, like-for-like retail sales rose 15 per cent, the company said in an update. That followed a dire Christmas in which the jeweller was hit by [...]
FTSE breaks eight day streak on jitters over China and Euro July 6, 2011 THE FTSE 100’s eight-day winning streak came to a halt yesterday as worries over debt contagion in Europe and the demand outlook in China hit banking and commodity stocks. The top share index closed 21.11 points or 0.4 per cent lower at 6,002.92, having risen more than six per cent in the previous eight sessions [...]
Banks in retreat after Portugal downgrade July 6, 2011 The FTSE 100 lost ground on opening today after Moody’s cut Portugal’s credit rating to “junk” sending banking shares down. As the Eurozone crisis deepened investors abandoned risky equities as banks’ exposure to the crisis in the eurozone came under the spotlight. The euro fell sharply after the Moody’s four-notch downgrade to Ba2, with the [...]
FTSE extends gains as talk of takeovers boosts the market July 5, 2011 THE FTSE 100 rose for an eighth straight trading day yesterday, as earnings hopes lifted Tullow Oil and bid talk boosted Reckitt Benckiser. Tullow, up 3.8 per cent, said it expected to post record first-half revenues as it ramped up output in Ghana and also said it was a few weeks away from completing a [...]