Coronavirus crisis set to wipe $17bn off sports sponsorship market May 18, 2020 Global sports sponsorship revenue will fall by $17.2bn (£14.1bn) this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, new forecasts have revealed. Total spend is expected to reach just $28.9bn in 2020 — a 37 per cent fall year on year — as scores of live sporting events have been scrapped and businesses look to [...]
Retail landlord Intu seeks debt standstill as rent payments fall in lockdown May 18, 2020 Embattled retail landlord Intu said this morning that it is seeking debt standstills from its lenders as it warned it expects to breach covenants next month due to a slump in tenant rent payments. Intu, which owns Manchester’s Trafford Centre, said the impact of unpaid rent and plummeting property valuations was likely to result in [...]
Video-by-default and a silver surfer generation: Predicting a post-pandemic tech world May 15, 2020 Everybody is in the business of prediction these days. The path of the pandemic, and its impact on health services. The shape of the impending recession, the stock market or the oil price. Unemployment figures or the size of the national debt. As a venture investor, I can’t predict the future better than anyone else. [...]
Government urged to help property market recover amid UK house price slump May 14, 2020 The government has been urged to provide measures to help the property market to recover, after the latest research warned that UK house prices are set to plunge this year. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) reiterated its call for a stamp duty holiday to encourage buyers , warning that UK house prices were [...]
Coronavirus: Housebuilder Countryside reports £29m profit hit May 14, 2020 Housebuilder Countryside Properties took a £29m hit to profit in March due to lost home and land sales as the coronavirus pandemic escalated in the UK. The developer said it estimated that around 184 completions, including 79 private completions, were lost in March. Five land sales were also cancelled by the buyer due to coronavirus. [...]
House price decline hurts Just Group’s solvency ratio May 14, 2020 Specialist pension provider Just Group posted a drop in its solvency ratio today after interest rates plunged around the world over the economic fallout of coronavirus. The insurer told investors its Solvency II coverage ratio has dropped three points to 138 per cent at the end of April 2020. European Solvency II rules stipulate how [...]
UK housebuilders race to return to work after government eases restrictions May 14, 2020 Some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders have revealed plans to return to work after the government removed lockdown restrictions on the property market. FTSE 100 housebuilder Persimmon said this morning that its sales offices in England will reopen from tomorrow with social distancing measures in place. It comes after the government removed restrictions to allow [...]
Housing market at the forefront of UK’s economic revival, says minister May 13, 2020 The housing market will be key to reviving the British economy and needed to be re-opened, according to housing secretary Robert Jenrick. At today’s press briefing, Jenrick said the “pressure for some to move was becoming acute”, with the government estimating that 450,000 buyers and renters have been unable to move house since March. The [...]
FTSE 100 and US stocks fall on fears of coronavirus second wave May 13, 2020 The FTSE 100 and US stocks have fallen as fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections spook traders and US-China tensions rise over the pandemic. The UK’s blue-chip stock index was 1.2 per cent lower in afternoon trading. This took the FTSE 100 below the 6,000 mark which it passed yesterday for only the [...]
Property stocks jump as restrictions on UK housing market ease May 13, 2020 Estate agent and housebuilder stocks soared this morning after the government last night loosened lockdown restrictions on the UK housing market. Shares in London estate agent Foxtons surged 8.31 per cent to 43.65p and online platform Purplebricks’ stock soared 11 per cent to 37.86p. LSL Property Services, the owner of Your Move and Reeds Rains, [...]