Property prices soar
The lowest mortgage rates for more than 30 years and rising consumer confidence have triggered a surge in house prices with evidence that would-be buyers are chasing a dw...
|
Paragon sales rise 47% in 'buy to let' boom
The "buy to let" mortgage boom has boosted first-half profits at Paragon by 32% to £14.7m. Eight years ago the company, under its former name of National Home Loans, almo...
|
A&L shows that it's tough as a minnow
The rush of blood in the banking sector prompted by the proposed merger between the Bank of Ireland and Alliance & Leicester is certainly overdone. This is not the iconic...
|
Lenders say rate cuts are enticing home buyers
Demand for home loans has been boosted by successive cuts in interest rates since the autumn, according to figures released yesterday.
The start of the house-buying sea...
|
Grand national strategy
Social housing has climbed up the political agenda. While we no longer have the targets
of 400,000 new council houses per year of the 1960s, we do have the recognition b...
|
Highway robbery
It happens in different ways. A mate asks for a favour, maybe just a few crates of fags. A boss at the depot offers a chance to make some real money, in return for a blin...
|
Inflation falls below Government target
Inflation has dropped back below the Government's target rate, according to official figures published today.
Underlying inflation in April fell to 2.4% - just below t...
|
Hope for repossessed
Cases starting to trundle through the legal system could stymie mortgage lenders' rights to chase repossessed borrowers for 12 years after losing their home.
Tens of th...
|
First tracker home loan launched
Norwich Union is to enter the mortgage market on Monday with the first loan guaranteed to be no more than 0.85% above the Bank of England base rate.
The base rate track...
|
Darling acts in MyTravel crisis
MyTravel, the country's second largest package holiday operator, said continuing talks to refinance debts of almost £500m were "progressing well" yesterday after it ...
|
Cash and skills but at what cost?
The Private Finance Initiative is being used to help the government rebuild the country's public sector infrastructure. Supporters claim it brings private sector cash, sk...
|
Huge windfall for hospital's PFI investors as staff face job cuts
The impact of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in the National Health Service will be questioned today in a highly critical report from parliament's spending watchdog...
|
Doorstep lenders told to cut interest rates
People who use doorstep lending firms have been overcharged by £500m over the last five years, according to the Competition Commission which yesterday warned lender...
|
Taxpayer misses out on up to £90m in PFI windfalls
Treasury plans to make more than £200m for the taxpayer from windfall gains over the refinancing of private finance initiative (PFI) schemes from roads to hospitals...
|
Labour loans - why should we pay?
I made a serious mistake in 1993. As a lifelong Labour supporter, and caught up with the prevalent concern that Labour could never win again, I suspended a promise to mys...
|
Private firms get £73m windfall in hospital deal
Banks and property developers made windfall profits of £73m by refinancing one of the Labour government's first privately financed hospitals, the 989-bed Norfolk and...
|
FSA brokers £194m split caps indemnity
The Financial Services Authority has brokered a £194m compensation fund for 40,000 investors who lost money in split capital trusts.
While dropping its investigati...
|
ICI rises above crude crisis
ICI, the speciality chemicals maker, made an unexpected appearance on the FTSE 100 leaderboard yesterday after one of its two brokers put the stock back on its "buy" list...
|
Leeds turn to fans for £10m
Leeds United's new board is to turn to the club's supporters in an attempt to raise more than £10m of fresh capital to help refinance the ailing club.
In the first...
|
Strategic gamble which saw a mogul meet his Waterloo
It is a fair assumption that for Lord Black of Crossharbour, chairman of Hollinger, the newspaper empire stretching from the Chicago Sun-Times to the Jerusalem Post, the ...
|
Director quits with Spurs short of £20m
Concern about the financial position of Tottenham Hotspur escalated yesterday after the sudden departure of the the Premiership club's finance director, Paul Viner, only ...
|
Reasons to be cheerful
After three years of unrelenting gloom it is not surprising that market operators and corporate financiers are trying to talk things up. Every piece of "good news" is app...
|
Shareholder democracy is now not so remote
The TUC has been running around trying to name and shame institutional fund managers who fail to use their votes to impose good corporate governance standards at the comp...
|
City raises Wembley loan doubts
WestLB's commitment to its £757m loan to rebuild Wembley stadium was back in the spotlight after yesterday's upheaval at the bank.
Wembley was one of the high prof...
|
State comes to Télécom's aid
France Télécom yesterday took the wraps off an ambitious package to refinance its crippling debt burden - backed by €9bn (£5.7bn) from the French gove...
|
Should we use our savings to pay off our debts?
Q I hope you can help with this dilemma. My husband lost his job last week and now wants me to cash in my long-term savings plan to pay off all credit card debts and refi...
|
Price regime puts power firms at risk of defaulting
Banks could be forced to take over some of Britain's power stations because cheap electricity prices could force their owners to default on their loans, industry experts ...
|
Heard on the grapevine
Is EMI preparing to refinance its debt as the record company and music publisher prepares to take full control of the Motown back-catalogue?
That was the suggestion fro...
|
Controversial hospital in line for design award
Another 'problem' hospital built through the private finance initiative has been shortlisted for the annual prime minister's better public buildings award for the second ...
|
SMG suffers debt penalty
George Watt, finance director of Scottish TV and Virgin radio owner SMG, is confident that its cashflow is strong enough to allow it to repay its £393 million debt b...
|
Latest press releases
