UK house prices: Mortgage lending is steaming ahead at its fastest pace since 2008, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders November 19, 2015 Mortgage lending is in full recovery mode. The amount of mortgage lending shot up eight per cent in October compared with September to £21.8bn, according to figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) today. October was the biggest month for mortgage lending since July 2008 and takes annual mortgage lending growth to a whopping [...]
The great investment debate: Should you put your money in active or passive funds? November 19, 2015 The great investment debate typically pits passively managed funds against their actively managed counterparts. Passively managed funds give investors low-cost risk exposure without the added worry of assessing a fund manager's skills, while actively managed funds come with fees, which eat into their overall returns, but allowing fund managers to trade through market volatility to weather storms like [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Sharp drop in retail sales in October as shoppers gear up for the mega deals day and Cyber Monday November 19, 2015 UK retail sales dropped steeply in October as the hype surrounding the Rugby World Cup died down and shoppers kept cash aside to snap up some Black Friday bargains on the 27th November. The amount spent at retailers dropped 0.7 per cent on the month while the volume of goods bought was down 0.6 per cent, according to [...]
FTSE 100 index opens up on Royal Mail, Johnson Matthey and miners November 19, 2015 The FTSE 100 opened 0.7 per cent higher this morning, at 6,322 points, led by gains in Royal Mail, Shell, BG and Johnson Matthey. Royal Mail's share price increased 4.1 per cent to 18.6p as markets opened , after reporting progress in its cost-cutting programme, which left revenue largely flat against difficult market conditions. The company reported [...]
Royal Mail share price rises as it reports progress in cost-cutting programme – but the second half will depend on the Christmas period November 19, 2015 Shares in Royal Mail jumped four per cent to 472.4p after its first-half results showed it's making headway as it accelerated its cost cutting programme and says the outlook for letters and parcels markets remains unchanged. The figures Royal Mail reported revenue of £4.4bn for the half year ended 27 September, two per cent down from the £4.5bn for [...]
Shell and BG Group’s £47bn merger receives Australian approval – now it just needs the OK from China and the FIRB November 19, 2015 The mega-merger between oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group has taken a step closer, after receiving unconditional clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The £47bn takeover of BG, which was announced back in April, has already received approval from competition bodies in Brazil and the European Union, meaning that three of [...]
Tinder parent company Match Group “clarifies” Sean Rad’s statements as company prices IPO at lower end of range November 19, 2015 Tinder's parent company Match Group has filed a last-minute submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the app's chief executive Sean Rad went rogue in an interview during the company's "quiet period" in the run-up to its IPO. Rad's interview with the Evening Standard ran yesterday, the same day that Match Group [...]
UK climbs one position to 15th place in a ranking of effective business tax systems, but drawn-out compliance times stop it from placing higher November 19, 2015 The UK has claimed 15th place in a ranking of countries with effective business tax systems, climbing up one position from last year, according to a report published today by the World Bank Group and professional services firm PwC. The league table, which assesses countries on how easy it is to pay taxes based on [...]
City regulators to look into possible bans for HBOS execs November 19, 2015 City regulators will today decide if bans should be imposed on chiefs at HBOS after a long-awaited report into the bank’s collapse is published. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are expected to announce that they will undertake more work on potential enforcement action against individuals. Sky News also reported that [...]
HBOS report: Crisis probe is the Never-Ending Story November 19, 2015 It has been 2,617 days since Lloyds TSB’s merger with HBOS was struck. Today – at last – we will get the fullest account yet of why HBOS needed rescuing in the first place. The delay in publication isn’t the least shocking aspect of Britain’s banking crisis. If the purpose of such inquiries is to [...]