RBS swings to loss in wake of £900m PPI charges October 24, 2019 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) swung to a loss during the last quarter as a rush of payment protection insurance (PPI) claims caused a £900m hit to the lender’s balance sheet. RBS reports an operating loss of £8m for the nine months to the end of September 2019, falling from £961m in the same period last [...]
Real estate tech company Blueground launches in London October 23, 2019 Blueground, a startup providing tech-driven flexible apartment rentals, is launching in London and has raised $50m (£39m) in a funding round. The real estate tech firm offers Airbnb-style apartment rentals aimed at business travellers, offering rental lengths of one month or longer. Read more: Exclusive: Flexible office space firm Central Working falls into administration Blueground, [...]
Property of the Week: Live on top of this art deco block in Kensington October 18, 2019 Choosing between period and new-build is one of the biggest decisions you have to make when buying a home. While older properties have heaps of character, quirky features and kerb appeal, the pristine, fresh-out-the-box feeling you get with a new build is hard to beat. There are die-hard fans in both camps. But for those [...]
New builds: Homes on the market in London this week, from a former modernist office in Croydon to luxury flats in Mayfair October 18, 2019 Brunel Street Works, Canning Town From £375,000 for a one-bed Brunel Street Works, a 975-home development in Canning Town, is being launched by Linden Homes this weekend. The one, two and three-bed apartments are part of a wider regeneration project which will also bring new shops, workspace and a hotel to the area. Residents will [...]
What does Britain need? More robots October 17, 2019 On Monday, the Queen’s Speech set out the government’s legislative plans, starting with tackling all things Brexit, before laying out a radical programme to shake the country out of its current torpor. Leaving aside whether any of this legislative programme manages to get through parliament, I would argue that one of the most critical issues [...]
The Hundred draft: How it will work, when it is happening and where to watch it October 16, 2019 English cricket is set to break new ground this weekend when a draft process takes place for The Hundred ahead of next summer’s much-anticipated start date. The look of the new eight-team, 100-ball competition, due to run from 7 July to 16 August 2020, has been gradually rolled out. Over recent months, the format, team [...]
Seplat Petroleum expands production with £382m purchase of Eland Oil & Gas October 15, 2019 Nigerian oil company Seplat Petroleum is set to acquire London-listed Eland Oil & Gas for £382m. The West African oil group will pay 166 pence per share for Eland, which translates into a premium of 28.5 per cent from the company’s closing price on Monday. Read more: Afren in talks to recapitalise after Seplat deal [...]
Musical shares: Why Merck Mercuriadis believes the old ones are always the best October 14, 2019 Merck Mercuriadis has a party trick. If you tell the veteran music mogul-turned City slicker your favourite band, he’ll name an older band that influenced them. Like a Spotify algorithm, but in real life. Mercuriadis’s encyclopedic music knowledge is hardly surprising. Over his career he has managed artists including Morrissey, Beyonce and Elton John, and [...]
Property giant Land Securities eyes £650m sale to fund real estate expansion October 13, 2019 Property giant Land Securities is reportedly close to selling a £650m stake in a leisure portfolio to private equity property investor CIT Partners. Land Securities is understood to have agreed to sell its 95 per cent share of the X-Leisure Unit Trust – which is behind developments including Xscape Milton Keynes and Brighton Marina – [...]
Why cash-rich renters are on the rise October 11, 2019 According to conventional British wisdom, renting is something you do when you can’t afford to buy a house. While that’s still true of the majority of London renters, there is another group – and they’re growing. Some are international executives coming here to work for a year or two. There are wealthy overseas students, too, [...]