Tech firm Softcat prices London Stock Exchange IPO at 240p a share November 13, 2015 UK IT infrastructure and services provider Softcat has priced its IPO at 240p a share, giving the firm a value of £472.3m, a month after announcing its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. Softcat’s flotation will raise £153.4m, which could rise as high as £176.4m if additional shares are sold. Conditional dealings will [...]
British Bankers’ Association: London is losing its edge as a financial centre November 13, 2015 London is losing its edge as an international banking centre, a new report out today has warned, saying that “urgent action is needed if the UK is to remain an attractive location for foreign banks and provide a competitive business environment for UK wholesale banks to challenge overseas”. The report, produced by the British Bankers’ [...]
Suburbs lag behind inner London boroughs in housebuilding drive November 13, 2015 Inner London boroughs are granting planning permission for more new homes than the all of the surrounding outer boroughs put together, according to a new report that warns of a growing prosperity divide within the capital. Stirling Ackroyd’s latest New Homes Monitor showed London’s thirteen Inner boroughs approved a total of 11,970 new homes throughout [...]
Over £1bn of masala bonds to be issued in London, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces November 12, 2015 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has marked the beginning of his trip to the UK by announcing today that the country’s railway network will issue so-called masala bonds in London to raise cash for its expansion. Masala bonds are rupee-denominated bonds issued outside of India. Over £1bn masala bonds will be issued including the first private [...]
A fifth of Goldman Sachs’ 425 new managing directors joined as summer interns November 12, 2015 Goldman Sachs has promoted 425 of its employees to managing director – its second-highest rank behind the lucrative position of partner – the investment bank announced today. A person familiar with the matter said that 21 per cent of the group initially joined the company as summer interns, while 35 per cent were campus hires. The highest [...]
London landlord bars the 800 campaigners that got his Duke of Hamilton pub in Hampstead listed November 12, 2015 A London landlord has barred 800 local campaigners from his pub after they managed to get his property listed, making it harder for him to sell. Steve Coxshall, a former stockbroker that also managed the boyband Blue, said the campaigners, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum, were “hypocrites in cardigans”. Camden Council decided to the list the three-century-old [...]
Lack of building to blame for high house prices, says Bank of England’s Andy Haldane November 12, 2015 The UK housing market is “broken” the Bank of England’s chief economist said today, arguing that not enough homes were being built, in an unusually stark critique of government policy. Andy Haldane told an audience at the Trades Union Congress that Britain needed to build around 200,000 homes a year and its failure to do [...]
US budget deficit shoots up in October November 12, 2015 The US federal government budget deficit hit $137bn (£90bn) in October, a 12 per cent increase on the same month last year, the Treasury Department said today. Total receipts edged down one per cent to $211bn while spending was up four per cent on the year to $348bn. The timings of certain payments were to [...]
Federal Reserve’s William Dudley leaning toward interest rate hike as Charles Evans stays dovish November 12, 2015 A series of speeches from US rate-setters has put the US marginally closer toward an interest rate hike. Federal Reserve official Charles Evans said the central bank is close to reaching its employment goal, but he is concerned inflation may fail to reach its two per cent target. "I am far less confident about reaching [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 slides as Rolls-Royce plummets November 12, 2015 The FTSE 100 index fell in Thursday's trading after Rolls-Royce shares tanked and miners continued to slide. The UK's top blue-chip index fell 1.88 per cent to 6,178 points. Rolls-Royce was the biggest casualty of the day, tumbling 19.57 per cent to 536.5p after warning profits will be at the lower end of expectations due [...]