ECB will launch €1 trillion bond buying programme on 9 March March 5, 2015 The European Central Bank (ECB) said it will launch its €1 trillion quantitative easing programme on 9 March, in a bid to ward off a deflation death spiral and kick start economic growth throughout the ailing region. "We will on 9 March 2015 start purchasing euro-dominated public sector securities in the secondary market," ECB governor [...]
Bank of England interest rate decision: MPC holds at record low for sixth year March 5, 2015 The Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) voted not to touch interest rates for what's now the 72nd month. This means interest rates have been held at a record low 0.5 per cent for six years. If you're struggling to think back this far, this time in 2009, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" was gracing cinema screens. [...]
Aviva share price rises after full-year profit leaps and final dividend gets a 30pc boost March 5, 2015 The figures: UK insurer Aviva said full-year operating profit rose six percent to £2.17bn in 2014, slightly above forecasts of £2.15bn. It proposed a 30 per cent increase to its final dividend taking it to 12.25 pence per share, cheering investors and pushing the company's share price up six per cent to 564 pence per share at pixel [...]
Knight Frank Wealth Report 2015: Which is the world’s hottest luxury property market? March 5, 2015 The world's richest individuals are piling into properties in the world's most expensive cities, pushing up prices of luxury homes. The value of luxury residential property across the world rose by an average of about two per cent last year, based on prices in the 100 locations covered by Knight Frank's Prime International Residential Index [...]
General election jitters? UK house prices fall off the boil in February March 5, 2015 The path to house price equilibrium is an undulating one. After a 1.9 per cent spike in January the average cost of a house fell by 0.3 per cent month-on-month in February, according to the latest data from Halifax. This put the price of the average home slightly lower at £192,372, with some analysts suspecting [...]
Former Virgin Media exec Eamonn O’Hare plots telecoms raid March 4, 2015 The man who engineered Virgin Media’s $24bn (£15bn) blockbuster sale to Liberty Global has unveiled ambitious plans to take advantage of frenzied deal activity in Europe’s telecoms market. Ex-Virgin Media finance boss Eamonn O’Hare’s dramatic comeback, revealed last night, will involve raising cash in London to snap up struggling telecoms assets across the continent. [...]
London luxury fashion company Farfetch valued at $1bn as it raises $86m March 4, 2015 Online luxury fashion company Farfetch has been valued at $1bn (£656m) after completing a round of investment led by software company DST Global. The firm raised $86m, with existing shareholders Conde Nast International and Vitruvian Partners also participating, taking the total amount raised by the company at over $195m. London-based Farfetch was established in 2008, [...]
Serious Fraud Office to probe Bank of England’s liquidity auction March 4, 2015 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating Bank of England liquidity auctions held during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008. The central bank confirmed last night that it had handed over the findings of an independent inquiry conducted by Lord Grabiner QC into whether any bank officials knew of, or took part in, attempts [...]
Bank of England liquidity auctions under investigation by Serious Fraud Office March 4, 2015 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating the Bank of England's (BoE) money-market auctions in late 2007 and early 2008 for possible fraud. The Bank said it had referred information relevant to the auctions to the SFO in November. This is the first time the Bank's auctions has been put under investigation by the SFO. [...]
FTSE 100 and 250 quarterly review: Hikma, AA, Virgin Money Holdings and Imagination Technologies Group are in and Afren, Game Digital and Oxford Instruments are out March 4, 2015 The FTSE Group has released its quarterly review showing which companies have edged into the index and which have dropped out. Hikma Pharmaceuticals made its way into the FTSE 100 while Tullow Oil has fallen out of the top index. Hikma floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. Tullow will now join the FTSE [...]