Budget 2020: Stamp duty hiked for overseas buyers March 11, 2020 The government will go ahead with plans to increase stamp duty for overseas buyers, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today. He said the government will introduce a new stamp duty surcharge of two per cent for foreign buyers to make it easier for domestic buyers as part of a range of measures to tackle the housing [...]
City Moves for 11 March — Who’s switching jobs at Wavemaker, Waypoint Capital and CapitalRise? March 11, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Wavemaker, Waypoint Capital and CapitalRise Wavemaker Wavemaker UK has announced the appointment of Elliott Millard as head of planning. Based in London, Elliott will lead a team of 65 planners, taking responsibility for the strategic element of key new business pitches. Elliott brings over 18 years of media industry leadership experience [...]
The Westbury Hotel owner seeks £1bn sale of Mayfair portfolio March 10, 2020 Cola Holdings, the owner of the The Westbury Hotel, is seeking a £1bn offer for its Mayfair property estate, which also includes Bond Street’s Burberry store and a private members club. Kurdish-born millionaire Bakir Cola owns the group, which has recently received planning permission to redevelop the five-star hotel in Conduit Street to attract “top [...]
Your road map to the Isa universe: Make the most of your tax-free allowance March 10, 2020 There are just 27 days to go before the tax year ends on 5 April. For savers and investors, that means there are only a few weeks left to make use of their Individual Savings Account (Isa) allowance. Introduced in 1999, Isas allow people to invest up to £20,000 into savings each tax year, and [...]
M&G launches redundancy scheme to slash staff costs March 10, 2020 Asset management firm M&G today announced it has launched a redundancy scheme to reduce staff costs by 10 per cent this year. The figures M&G reported a drop in adjusted operating profit before tax from £1.62bn in 2018 to £1.15bn last year. IFRS profit after tax increased from £811m to £1.06bn. Assets under management and [...]
City Moves for 10 March — Who’s switching jobs at Vectura, Heylo and Segro? March 10, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Vectura, Heylo and Segro Vectura Drug delivery service Vectura has announced the appointment of Mark Bridgewater as chief commercial officer. Mark has more than 20 years of experience in medical device and pharmaceutical services. Prior to joining Vectura, he was vice president of business development and account management for Europe and [...]
Coast Capital renews attempt to force break-up of bus operator First Group March 9, 2020 Coast Capital has renewed its attempts to engineer a break-up of transport operator First Group, saying it will try to force an emergency general meeting of shareholders unless the group announces a separation. First Group has long been under pressure from several of its investors to separate the company’s North American operations into independent businesses, [...]
Retail woes continue as high street footfall drops eight per cent March 9, 2020 The fragility of the British high street was laid bare last month as severe and ongoing rain led to a drop in high street footfall. February saw a drop in footfall of 7.8 per cent as shoppers stayed away from high streets, according to the latest figures by Springboard. However shopping centres and retail parks [...]
Meet the influential women building the future of Britain March 6, 2020 With International Women’s Day on the horizon, we celebrate some of the UK’s most influential women, and how their contributions are shaping the future of the nation. It’s been over a month since the UK entered the transitional period between leaving the EU and confirming a final deal with Europe. Although the pound has remained [...]
Coronavirus crisis wipes £59bn off FTSE 100 March 6, 2020 Coronavirus wiped £59bn off the FTSE 100 today to cap off another week of stock market turmoil. The blue-chip stock index sank by 3.6 per cent, or 242.88 points, to finish the week on 6,462.55 points – its lowest since July 2016. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was down 2.98 per cent, or 576.62 points to [...]