Sainsbury’s planning major changes to struggling bank arm September 8, 2019 Sainsbury’s is plotting a radical overhaul of its loss-making banking arm as it reconsiders its business model in the wake of its failed merger with Asda. Read more: Sainsbury’s partners with Deliveroo on pizza takeaway service The household name is weighing up its options ahead of a meeting with investors in two weeks’ time. The [...]
Construction industry output ‘drops like a brick’ to a decade low September 3, 2019 Britain’s construction industry suffered its sharpest decline in new work in more than a decade last month, as economic uncertainty hampered decision making among customers. New orders slumped at their worst rate since March 2009, according to closely-followed industry barometer the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which read just 40 for the category where [...]
UK mortgage approvals hit highest level in two years August 27, 2019 British high street banks approved the highest number of mortgages for house purchases in over two years in July, according to financial services body UK Finance, in a sign of life in a housing market which has struggled under the weight of Brexit. Read more: London house prices continue to slide under Brexit pressure There [...]
Co-op Bank narrows losses but warns over mortgage competition August 8, 2019 The UK’s Co-operative Bank cut its losses in the first half of the year but said “margin headwinds” due to mortgage competition were holding it back. Read more: Metro Bank share price plummets in wake of profit drop The figures Co-op Bank made a statutory pre-tax loss of £38.5m in the first half, its interim [...]
UK house prices suffer surprise July fall as housing market ‘treads water’ August 7, 2019 UK house prices continued to “tread water” in July as they slipped 0.2 per cent month on month, Halifax warned today. However, annual growth rose 4.1 per cent thanks to the housing market’s poor performance in 2018, the bank’s latest house price index found. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “The average UK house [...]
Growth falters as UK house prices stuck in ‘Brexit limbo’ July 31, 2019 UK house prices’ rate of growth slipped in July, falling to a “modest” 0.3 per cent annual rise to stay below one per cent for the eighth month in a row, according to Nationwide’s latest data. However, the 0.3 per cent month-on-month growth outstripped June’s 0.1 per cent to leave the average UK home worth [...]
Virgin Money owner CYBG share price falls as it warns of softer full-year margins July 30, 2019 Shares in CYBG are down over 11.5 per cent this morning after the challenger bank warned that net interest margins (NIM) were likely to be at the lower end of its forecast. Read more: CYBG to rebrand as Virgin Money to ‘disrupt status quo’ of UK banking The group, which owns Virgin Money, stood by [...]
Revenue rises at Rightmove as half-year results reveal 10 per cent increase July 26, 2019 Rightmove said its revenue has increased by almost 10 per cent during the first half of this year after issuing results to its investors this morning. The property portal reported strong results with revenue to the end of June up to £143.9m, from £131.1m last year. It claimed this was largely driven by continued growth [...]
Santander profits dive 18 per cent as UK mortgage margins squeezed July 23, 2019 Santander posted an 18 per cent plunge in second quarter profits due to one-off acquisition costs and rising pressure on mortgage margins in the UK. Read more: Santander ‘offered Andrea Orcel 52m euros’ in botched CEO plan The figures Profit before tax fell 18 per cent year on year to €1.39bn (£1.25bn) between April and [...]
Outgoing RBS boss Ross McEwan to take top role at National Australia Bank July 19, 2019 The outgoing head of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is taking the reigns as new chief executive of the National Australia Bank (NAB). Ross McEwan, a banking veteran who is set to step down from RBS by April next year, has been poached by the NAB as it looks to recover from a financial [...]