How you can live in a £3m London mansion for free: SpareRoom founder Rupert Hunt’s lucky flatmates will pay only what they can afford for rent January 11, 2016 One property entrepreneur is giving someone the opportunity to live in a £3m mansion in the heart of the city – for free. Rupert Hunt, the founder of letting website SpareRoom, is looking for a new flatmate for his swanky pad in Spitalfields which boasts six bedrooms over five floors and grade two listed status, but is making it [...]
Travelodge plots £140m expansion with 19 new hotels January 11, 2016 Travelodge has unveiled plans to open 19 hotels this year after completing a £100m makeover of its entire estate, paving the way for a potential sale of the chain this year. The budget hotelier said it will invest around £140m in developing and opening new hotels in key business locations such as London, Glasgow and [...]
More pain for the UK steel industry: Union bosses meet Tata Steel over Port Talbot job losses January 11, 2016 Union bosses are preparing to meet with Tata Steel this week, following reports that there could be hundreds of job losses at the UK's largest steel works, signalling more pain for the embattled industry. It follows local reports that around a quarter of the 4,000 steelworkers at the plant in Port Talbot, south Wales could lose [...]
London house prices: Rethinking high rise estate regeneration could create 360,000 more new homes January 11, 2016 We may have been doing regeneration wrong this whole time. There's a much better way to redevelop London's high rise housing estates that would increase the number of homes in the capital by several hundred thousand, a new report has found – all but solving the housing crisis. More than a quarter of a million extra homes [...]
Savills hikes full-year forecasts but warns that rising rates could dent deal volumes in 2016 January 11, 2016 Savills has reported a stronger-than-expected finish to 2015 but warned that increasing uncertainty over the economic outlook and rising interest rates is likely to dampen deal volumes this year. The estate agency said its investment management division enjoyed a particularly strong end to the year thanks to the sale of portfolio of buildings around one of [...]
Lin Homer steps down as HMRC chief executive and the search for her successor is underway January 11, 2016 Lin Homer has announced today that she will be stepping down as chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in April, after joining just over four years ago. Homer said: "After ten years as a chief executive and permanent secretary in the Civil Service, the start of the next Spending Review period seemed to be [...]
Brent and US crude: Oil prices fall amid anxiety over China’s economic slowdown January 11, 2016 Oil prices careered lower today, as anxiety over the pace of China's economic slowdown dented the outlook for demand. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 2.7 per cent to $32.63 per barrel today, while West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, slumped 2.1 per cent at $32.47. It comes after oil prices shed around 10 per cent [...]
Eat and London Luton airport owner Ardian Private Equity closes the largest ever European infrastructure fund worth €2.65bn January 11, 2016 Ardian, the French private equity house whose investments include restaurant chain Eat and London Luton airport, has closed its infrastructure fund with €2.65bn (£1.98bn) of investment. It is Ardian's fourth infrastructure fund, and is the largest such fund raised by a European firm, surpassing Ardian's third fund by 50 per cent. Some €900m came from new [...]
House of Fraser reports strong Christmas trading period after first full year of being owned by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower January 11, 2016 House of Fraser appears to have shrugged off the festive blues plaguing other retailers, with sales up 5.3 per cent for the six weeks to 2 January. The figures The Chinese-owned department store, said it had had a strong Christmas trading period, starting with Black Friday, when sales were up 10 per cent on the previous [...]
Apple Music streaming service nabs 10m subscribers January 11, 2016 Apple Music now has 10m subscribers six months after it launched, it's been reported. The FT reported that the service, which was launched in June last year, rose despite a fall in global album sales. It's pretty good news for the service, which offered users a free three-month subscription when it was first unveiled. Set against [...]
