CAR TALK January 10, 2012 ECONOMICAL C1 GETS A REFRESH Citroen’s smallest car gets a fresh look for 2012. The latest C1 is cleaner and greener and boast more than 65.7mpg, emitting just 99g/km of CO2 and making it Congestion Charge exempt. It goes on sale in April. NEW MONDEO SHOWS OFF ASTON MARTIN-LIKE GRILL Ford revealed its latest Mondeo [...]
Persimmon buoyed by bullish outlook January 9, 2012 SHARES in house builder Persimmon rose 2.8 per cent yesterday after it said it expects its underlying full-year pre-tax profit to rise by half, helped by higher sales margins, and said it was confident of further growth in 2012 as first time buyer interest improves. The largest UK housebuilder by market value said yesterday that [...]
London the only region to defy house price slump throughout rest of UK January 9, 2012 UK HOUSE prices continued to fall at the end of last year, a widely-regarded survey revealed this morning, yet prices in the capital are still bucking the trend. London was the only region to show a positive net balance (46 per cent) of surveyors reporting rising prices. Across the country as a whole, a balance [...]
Asian clamour for safe investments lifts City property January 9, 2012 THE CITY and the Docklands enjoyed a big lift in commercial property deals last year, with £6.3bn changing hands through 108 transactions, new figures show. Activity was up 34 per cent by value on a year ago, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, with overseas funds making almost half of all purchases. Asian [...]
The get fit quick scheme January 9, 2012 People rarely have a clean break with their good intentions. They disappear gradually, a death by 1000 cuts. “I’m too tired to make lunch for work tomorrow.” “It’s too cold to walk to the gym.” “I don’t have time for a run today.” Self-styled “body genius” and personal trainer to the stars (well, Katie Price [...]
FIT IN THE CITY January 9, 2012 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT So the fun’s over and now it’s time to tackle January’s inevitable mincepie-top. Best place to start is often the studio, instead of the gym floor; trying to go it alone on the treadmill can be tough after weeks of gluttony and inactivity. These are my picks of the city’s finest [...]
A credit crunch movie that doesn’t hate bankers January 9, 2012 IF you had to guess where J.C. Chandor’s sympathies lie, you’d probably go with “anti-banker”. Had I met him without having watched a pre-release DVD of Margin Call, his art-house credit crunch thriller, I’d take one look at his skinny jeans, luxuriant black hair and air of New York cool and think: no way is [...]
High-end house prices on the rise in London January 8, 2012 TOP-END house prices in London have kept rising despite global economic uncertainty, according to data seen by Morning Wire Properties worth between £5m and £10m grew in value by 3.5 per cent in the year to the end of September 2011, research from Investec reveals. Houses worth between £1m and £2m increased in value by [...]
Lettings agency put up for sale January 8, 2012 A LETTINGS agency that plans to attract ex-City workers and bankers to expand its network of franchises has announced its intention to float on the Alternative Investment Market in a listing that will raise £8m including £3m in new money. Belvoir Lettings, which runs 142 franchised offices across the UK will be valued at around [...]