London Report: Yellen warning and rise in UK inflation cause FTSE to slip July 16, 2014 BRITAIN’S top shares lost ground yesterday after US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen voiced concern over valuations. And housebuilders were hit by growing expectations UK interest rates would soon rise, while Imperial Tobacco fell sharply. The FTSE 100 index was down by 0.53 per cent – 35.69 points – at 6,710.45 points. Imperial Tobacco sank [...]
City Moves for 22 May 2014 | Who’s switching jobs May 21, 2014 Marsh The insurance company has appointed David Bramall as head of placement in its national corporate practice. He joined in 2008 as a casualty broker from Willis, where he was also a casualty broker. Lloyds Bank The bank has announced the appointment of Nigel Brady as a director for sterling financials trading in its commercial [...]
Redrow buys sites for 1,300 homes April 29, 2014 Redrow said yesterday it has snapped up 11 sites since the start of the year with space for 1,300 homes, as the housebuilder reported another buoyant trading period. Net reservations in the 17 weeks to 25 April were up 17 per cent at 1,280, while its average selling price rose 16 per cent to £289,000. [...]
London Report: British economy in fifth straight growth quarter April 27, 2014 BRITAIN’S economy is expected to show its continued return to form this week, with official data likely to show a fifth consecutive quarter of expansion. Figures due from the Office for National Statistics tomorrow are expected to reveal the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, despite worries that February flooding would [...]
Best of the Brokers for 24 February 2014 February 23, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO Panmure Gordon tells investors in the tobacco firm to “hold” shares and has nudged its target down to 3,225p ahead of full-year results on Thursday. The broker thinks the pace of black market growth is slowing and the firm can [...]
London Report: Insurance firms start a deluge of UK earnings February 23, 2014 A BUMPER week for UK earnings kicks off today with results from Hiscox, one of the big home insurers reporting full-year figures. Figures from Hiscox, RSA and Direct Line could give more detailed estimates of losses for UK industry and themselves after recent flooding and storms. Aviva and L&G are also set to give end [...]
From forlorn flats to towering success January 30, 2014 One Commercial Street is the residential project proving London’s back in business OF ALL the new towers cropping up around the UK, an ambitious development, abandoned during the financial crash, is proving that London can bounce back from a crisis. Developer Redrow London now has high hopes for its flagship project, One Commercial Street, in [...]
Housebuilders pledge to end advance sales of homes overseas December 18, 2013 A TOTAL of 11 housing developers have signed a pledge to market their properties to UK buyers first, or at the same time, as marketing abroad. Concerns about properties being sold to foreign investors who then choose not to live in them have led to claims that many London streets are unoccupied while demand in [...]
Housebuilders take a knock as BoE ends Funding for Lending for mortgages November 28, 2013 Shares in the housebuilding sector have taken a tumble across the board this morning on the news that the Bank of England is ending its Funding for Lending scheme for mortgage providers. At pixel time, Barratt Homes has plummeted 9.6 per cent. Persimmon, the UK's largest home builder, is down over six per cent. Taylor [...]
Redrow and McCarthy & Stone lifted by housing market jump November 12, 2013 REDROW boss Steve Morgan yesterday hit out at the country’s planning system and said the effort in obtaining detailed consent was holding it back from building more homes. The housebuilder posted a 52 per cent jump in private reservations to 1,400 homes in the first 19 weeks of its financial year since the beginning of [...]