UK house prices: Mortgage lending enjoys best first quarter in nine years despite March dip April 14, 2016 Mortgage lending enjoyed its best first quarter in nine years thanks to buy-to-let landlords rushing to beat April's stamp duty hike, according to new figures published this morning. An average of 71,710 house purchase loans were approved in the first three months of the year, the data from surveyors e.surv shows – making it the highest opening [...]
Have we reached peak millennial? If these products and slogans are anything to go by, maybe April 13, 2016 Millennials are, apparently, hot property. You only need to look at Google’s search trends to find out just how hot. While the term ‘Generation Y’ has been kicking about for some time, ‘millennial’ didn’t really get going until 2013. But when it did, it sure took off fast. Companies have cottoned on fast. This time-poor, high-spending [...]
The Co-operative Group eyes sale of 300 food stores to focus on convenience April 13, 2016 Around 300 Co-operative food stores could face the axe as part of plans to shed its larger shops and focus on expanding its more profitable convenience business. The mutual, which has over 2,800 stores throughout the UK, is understood to have hired bankers at Rothschild to find buyers for the stores to help raise funds to spruce up the rest of its [...]
City Moves for 13 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 13, 2016 Peel Hunt Peel Hunt, the independent corporate broking, advisory and trading house focused on UK mid and small caps, is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Gardner-Bond (pictured) to the role of natural resources specialist sales, effective immediately. Simon joins from Investec Asset Management, where he worked for five years as a senior analyst [...]
Tesco’s share price has recovered this year as Dave Lewis implements his turnaround plan, but the preliminary results could affect sentiment April 13, 2016 When Dave Lewis took over as Tesco chief executive in September 2014, much was made of his nickname Drastic Dave, particularly as drastic measures were necessary to revive the group's flagging fortunes. Lewis was parachuted in from Unilever to turn around the Tesco juggernaut after a scandal that had seen the retailer overstate its profits. [...]
House prices: London and regional rental prices climbed higher in March April 13, 2016 London rents rose by 7.7 per cent in the year to March as demand for rental property in the capital remained strong, new research shows. However, HomeLet said that the data comes ahead of reforms that are predicted to have a major impact within the sector, including a stamp duty increase for buy-to-let properties, and could tell [...]
Interserve joint venture walks away from £1bn One Nine Elms scheme as talks collapse April 12, 2016 A £1bn scheme to build twin luxury residential-led towers in Nine Elms faced a new hurdle yesterday after a construction deal with the contractors collapsed. CI-One Construction, Interserve's joint venture with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), said it has "mutually agreed to end negotations" with Dalian Wanda over its appointment as the main contractor at One Nine Elms, near Vauxhall. The [...]
IMF slashes world growth forecasts and sounds alarm over fragile recovery – as well as warning on Brexit April 12, 2016 The world is facing an onslaught of risks which could upset the economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned, as it cut its forecasts for growth in the global economy – and raised alarm bells about the impact of Brexit for the UK. The IMF’s half-yearly world economic outlook, published today, said everything [...]
Transport for London Bill slammed by RMT as multi-billion pound rip off April 12, 2016 The RMT union has slammed the Transport for London Bill as a "multi-billion pound rip off" ahead its third reading in parliament tonight. The bill was introduced to help TfL maximise profits that it makes from developing its property. It aims to allow TfL power to enter into partnerships with property developers to generating cash in [...]
City Moves for 12 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 12, 2016 Bfinance Bfinance, the independently owned investment consultancy, has appointed Peter Hobbsas managing director of private markets in the London office. He joins from MSCI where he was managing director for real estate research and key global accounts, responsible for benchmarking and portfolio analysis, risk services and method development. Prior to this, Peter held various senior [...]