Great Portland Estates launches £200m share buyback, but warns it could be stopped by Brexit November 15, 2018 Great Portland Estates has launched a share buyback to return £200m to its shareholders, it said today. The property developer is set to repurchase 42m of its own shares over the next 12 months, in a deal backed by Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Securities. The company said it had decided to re-invest £200m of [...]
Mortgage approvals up for first-time buyers as market moves away from large deposits November 15, 2018 The market share of first-time buyers and small deposit borrowers increased in October as young buyers take advantage of low rates and slowing house price growth. A total of 67,011 mortgages were approved last month, an increase of 2.7 per cent since September and 3.5 per cent above levels in the same month last year. [...]
Flexible offer provider Workspace hit by London property market slowdown November 14, 2018 Flexible office provider Workspace announced a nearly 20 per cent drop in profit before tax as a weakening London property market took its toll. The London-based firm said its profit before tax was £101.6m in the six months ended 30 September, down 18 per cent from £123.7m in the same period last year. The company [...]
Homes Future at the Design Museum is a mad, retrofuturist vision of how designers of the past thought the future might look November 14, 2018 That the British are obsessed with our homes is a truism. Few other nations obsess quite so much about daily fluctuations in house prices, or attach quite so much cultural and social cachet to the idea of home ownership. The tale of modern British history is in large part the tale of our relationship with [...]
Sports Direct confirms closures of four more House of Fraser stores around the UK November 14, 2018 Four more House of Fraser branches are set to close under new owner Sports Direct as negotiations with a landlord broke down. House of Fraser said today that its Intu-owned sites in Norwich and Nottingham, as well as shopping centre stores in Lakeside in Essex and Metrocentre in Gateshead, will close in early 2019. The [...]
London house prices: Homes in the capital lose value despite the UK’s resilient property market November 14, 2018 London house prices fell 0.3 per cent in the year to September, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released today. Growth in the capital lagged far behind the UK-wide average, which was 3.5 per cent, a small increase from 3.1 per cent last month. The growth puts the average house price across the country [...]
British Land swings to £42m loss as challenging retail market hits portfolio value November 14, 2018 British Land has swung to a £42m pre-tax loss as its retail portfolio value fell 4.5 per cent due to the “challenging” market. The FTSE 100 property company, which owns shopping centres, supermarkets, high street stores, offices and residential properties, said its retail portfolio fell £307m to £6.3bn in the first half of the year. [...]
Speedy recovery: Tools supplier improves dividend as profits and revenue grow November 14, 2018 Speedy Hire upped its dividend after growing revenue and more than doubling profit in its half-year results today, sending shares upwards slightly. The tool hire company said it was well on the way to delivering its turnaround plan years after a battle between the board and activist investor Toscafund, which wanted it to merge with HSS. The [...]
M&G buys Financial Times headquarters from Pearson for £115m November 14, 2018 Publishing giant Pearson today agreed to sell the Financial Times's headquarters to investment firm M&G for £115m. The building at One Southwark Bridge, on the bank of the Thames, has been home to the Financial Times since 1987. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2018. Now the newspaper will move back to its [...]
Profits crash again as ‘frail’ McCarthy & Stone outlines plan to cut costs November 13, 2018 Profits collapsed at retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone today as it posted its full year results. Profit before tax fell 37 per cent year on year to £58.1m, down from £92.1m in 2017, as the housebuilder blamed a rise in building costs, rising operating costs, as well as extra marketing to promote its latest homes. [...]