Next raises annual profit forecasts on bumper festive sales January 3, 2014 Strong Christmas sales have seen retailer Next up its full year profit forecast range, along with announcing a special dividend. The festive period saw sales "significantly ahead of expectations", said the UK fashion chain. Sales from 1 November to 24 December increased 11.9 per cent, and five per cent from a year earlier. Next Retail [...]
Next raises annual profit forecasts on bumper festive sales January 3, 2014 Strong Christmas sales have seen retailer Next up its full year profit forecast range, along with announcing a special dividend. The festive period saw sales "significantly ahead of expectations", said the UK fashion chain. Sales from 1 November to 24 December increased 11.9 per cent, and five per cent from a year earlier. Next Retail [...]
What you need to know before the open – 19/12 December 19, 2013 So the Fed is going to start tapering its $85bn asset purchase programme. From January, it'll buy $75bn of mortgage and Treasury bonds each month – a modest cut, but one that caught markets off-guard last night, with many calling it wrong. Equity markets saw an immediate sharp sell-off, although that quickly reversed on the [...]
Fed shocks stocks into taper rally December 18, 2013 THE US Federal Reserve shocked markets last night by announcing a tapering of its enormous monthly stimulus programme – yet stocks jumped thanks to the modest size of the cut and a notably dovish accompanying statement. From January, the Fed will purchase $75bn of mortgage and Treasury bonds each month, down from the current rate [...]
What you need to know before the open – 18/12 December 18, 2013 Today is the day the Fed's Open Market Committee makes a decision on whether to trim back its quantitative easing programme. The tapering debate has rattled on for almost eight months now, with uncertainty persistently subduing the markets. Robust economic data has left many questioning the likelihood of a December (as opposed to a March [...]
Mortgage debt leans on south east of England December 17, 2013 LONDON and the south east of England make up nearly half of Great Britain’s outstanding property loans, as new figures show how the region dominates the mortgage market. London and the south east have £388.7bn of outstanding mortgage debt, 43 per cent of Britain’s £891.4bn total lending. The capital alone holds £227.3bn, more than a [...]
Aldermore raises another £40m ahead of expected London float December 16, 2013 CHALLENGER bank Aldermore yesterday sold a £40m stake to two hedge funds, worth roughly nine per cent of the lender. Lansdowne Partners paid £10m, valuing its stake at around two per cent. The fund is a major investor in the financial services sector, with around $10bn (£6.1bn) in assets under management. Meanwhile Sky News reported another [...]
London Week Ahead: UK’s Christmas gift of boost to GDP and jobs December 15, 2013 FURTHER evidence that the recovery is gaining traction is expected this week with inflation figures and the release of the employment rate, which may top 30m for the first time ever. While the inflation rate, measured by the consumer prices index (CPI), is forecast to remain at 2.2 per cent – the lowest since September [...]
The pair taking peer-to-peer to property December 15, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks with lending platform founders Anthony Fane and Graham Wellesley THE BURGEONING peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry could transform the personal loans market. It is currently worth £550m in the UK, but some experts expect that to increase to as much as £1bn by 2016. One of its newest entrants is Wellesley & Co, [...]
2013 sees mortage lending rise by a quarter as market warms December 12, 2013 MORTGAGE lending rose by nearly a quarter in the 12 months to October, as prices and activity in the housing market begin to climb again for the first time since the financial crisis. According to figures released by the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) yesterday, lending for house purchases rose 24 per cent in the [...]