Dividend up as revenue grows at Kier Group February 25, 2015 INCREASED confidence among UK businesses helped to push revenue up at construction firm Kier Group, according to boss Haydn Mursell. The company posted an 11 per cent improvement in revenue, up from £1.43bn during the final six months of 2013 to £1.58bn in the same period to 31 December 2014. Profit before tax dipped by [...]
City Moves for 26 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 25, 2015 Deloitte The business advisory firm has appointed Jurga McCluskey as partner and head of its UK immigration practice. She joins from PwC Legal, where she was head of private clients and the lead on a number of key corporate clients. McCluskey has also worked at Fragomen. BlackRock Thomas Müller has been appointed managing director and [...]
UK property market: Number of mortgage-free homeowners now outstrips those with property loan February 25, 2015 The number of people in the UK who own their home outright has surpassed the number of those with mortgages for the first time since the 1980s. Of the 14.3m who own their house, 7.4m owned outright, compared to 6.9m who bought with a mortgage. Last year these two types of owner were equal, according [...]
City Moves for 25 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 24, 2015 Knight Frank The property consultancy’s retail division has announced the appointment of Richard Petyt as a partner in its agency team. He joins from Asda Stores, and in his new role will work on food store and mixed use development projects, development funding and food store portfolio rationalisation. Cantor Fitzgerald Europe Caspar Shand Kydd has [...]
Change right-to-buy to stop rural communities becoming out of reach for young families, urges Chartered Institute of Housing February 24, 2015 We've all got used to the fact that young people and those on lower-to-middle incomes are being priced out of the city. Now it seems they are being priced out of the country too. The Chartered Institute of Housing has warned that continuing the right-to-buy scheme as it currently stands is making it increasingly difficult [...]
The UK economy according to the OECD in six charts February 24, 2015 Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, said last year that the economy "appears to be writhing in both agony and ecstasy." While the economy was growing at a faster rate that most of its rich counterparts, most people weren't benefiting from this because real wages were falling, and productivity, or output per hour work, [...]
Persimmon share price falls despite profits jumping 44 per cent February 24, 2015 The figures Persimmon, the UK's biggest listed housebuilder, said underlying pre-tax profit jumped 44 per cent to £475m for the fiscal year 2014, up from £330m a year earlier. Full-year revenue rose 44 per cent to £475m, up from £330m in 2013. Completions – the number of homes built – rose 17 per cent to 13,509 while [...]
City Moves for 24 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 23, 2015 Axa UK Bruno Charlin has been appointed chief investment officer at Axa UK. He was previously chief operating officer of group investment and group head of asset and liability management at Axa Group. Charlin has nearly 30 years’ experience in financial services. Duke Street The mid market private equity firm has appointed Stuart McMinnies as [...]
Britain’s legal sector is leading the world: It’s time we celebrated it February 23, 2015 This week, more than 2,000 delegates – lawyers, business leaders and ministers from around the world – are descending on London for the UK’s first Global Law Summit. Two years in the planning, its genesis lies in the government’s desire to promote the UK’s international standing in legal services in an increasingly competitive world-wide market. [...]
Scotland’s prime property market leaps as buyers race to avoid stamp duty increase February 23, 2015 The number of upmarket homes being sold in Scotland jumped 88 per cent between the second quarter and the fourth quarter of last year, and more than double the figure for the first three months of the year, as buyers raced to avoid a hike in transaction costs due to take place later this year. [...]