Purple Leaf | UK Business Property News

Earl puts Planet Hollywood into receivership
THE Trocadero has lost its most high-profile tenant after Planet Hollywood closed abruptly and announced that it is to move to a new £5million West End location. The restaurant chain will leave the Piccadilly leisure complex after 16 year

Passion for Perfume calls in administrators at a cost of 194 jobs
Business consultancy Deloitte said today it had been appointed as administrator to British retailer Passion for Perfume and that 194 jobs had been cut in the latest casualty of the downturn in consumer spending. Deloitte said 185 jobs had been

Adams close 111 stores at a cost of 850 jobs
Around 850 staff were made redundant at retailer Adams Childrenswear today after administrators announced the immediate closure of 111 stores. In a statement PricewaterhouseCoopers, appointed as administrators on December 31, said Adams' remain

Waterford Wedgewood calls in receivers puttinfg 2700 jobs in jeopardy
Ireland's Waterford Wedgwood, whose luxury tableware was once a mainstay of wedding gift lists worldwide, has called in receivers and placed two of Britain's most venerable china makers into administration. The heavily indebted maker of Waterfo

Mortgage approvals decline and Building Society borrowers face no further rate reductions as Nationwide sets example
Mortgage approvals for house purchases fell in November to their lowest since records began a decade ago, data showed today, putting further pressure on policymakers to get banks lending again. Mortgage approvals -- a leading indicator of housi

Footwear chain Kate Kuba goes into administration
Kate Kuba, the premium women's footwear chain, has gone into administration. Fisher Partners is understood to be handling the administration. It is thought that Kate Kuba owner Cos Constantinou is likely to buy back some of the compa

Apax backed French fashion chain Morgan goes bust
Private equity-backed French fashion retailer Morgan went into administration on December 24 as the global financial crisis took its toll. With its distinctly Gallic style – the French first lady Carla Bruni used to model for the company,

Experian expect 1600 retailers to fail this year
The downturn in consumer spending will drive over 1,600 retailers out of business in 2009, triggering thousands of job losses and leaving more than one in ten shops empty, a report said today. Market researchers Experian said trading conditions

Hirco plc shareholders up in arms at shotgun merger proposals which cost them dear.
The Times has reported that shareholders in Hirco plc, an AIM-listed property investment vehicle are threatening a revolt over a restructuring plan that massively dilutes their interests and effectively cedes control to a wealthy Indian family. <br /

Libor rates continue to fall though banks still not really lending to each other as Central banks fill the void
Interbank lending rates fell, and measures of money market stress eased yesterday, as cash injections from central banks and earlier interest rate cuts helped to calm investors. The spread of London interbank offered rates (Libor) for three-mon

Globe Pub Co struggling to keep afloat
Robert Tchenguiz's pub plans could suffer a further setback in the new year amid indications that the Globe Pub Company, the tenanted pub operator set up four years ago by his R20 investment vehicle, is close to breaching its financial covenants and faces

Scottish fashion chain USC in administraion
USC, which  began in 1989 as a single store in Edinburgh,  has gone into a "pre-pack" administration and has struck a deal that will keep 43 of its 58 stores open and allowed 1,127 staff to keep their jobs. Yesterday USC, which is back

Final act in GMAC bailout opera as lifeline is grasped
GMAC, the ailing US and UK consumer and small business lender part-owned by General Motors has completed it's reorganisation to obtain a bank charter so it can access the US government’s $700billion rescue fund for the financial industry. New signs of a deep contraction in the British economy emerged yesterday with further evidence that householders have cut retail spending and started to reduce debt. Bank of England figures showed that property-owners paid a record £5.

Two more High Street chains collapse as John Lewis report record takings
John Lewis, the employee-owned group viewed as a bellwether of retailing, said yesterday that the first day of its post-Christmas clearance sale produced record takings at its department stores. Department store sales on Saturday were up 7% on

Close Brothers forecast a further £70 billion will be lost by UK banks on commercial property.
UK banks could be forced into a second round of government bail outs as they are set collectively to lose up to £70 billion on loans they made on commercial property, according to reports out today. Investment bank Close Brothers have pred

Commercial property pundits forsee both 2009 and 2010 as bleak years
Asked what he expects from the commercial property market next year Ian Cullen, Founding Director, of IPD said: "The outlook for the commercial property market in 2009 is undoubtedly bleak. We’re not offering a forecast of X perce

Cross Rail project to receive £150million funding from Canary Wharf Group for Isle of Dogs Station
Work on Crossrail's Isle of Dogs station at Canary Wharf is now set to begin in early 2009 after Canary Wharf Group (CWG) today confirmed £150 million of funding. CWG has concluded agreements with transport secretary Geoff Hoon and Transp

Housing correction about half completed as RICS forecast final 10%+ fall in 2009 to rebalance market
Housing is at the root of the UK downturn, the U.S. slump and the global malaise; economists expect the US economy to decline much more in the current quarter after a 0.5% contraction in the third quarter. Britain, the world's fifth-largest economy, is in

2000 retail jobs saved as Administrators make going concern sales of Whittards and Officers Club
The jobs of almost 2,000 people in retailing have been saved for the time being as 2 High Street names have been bought out of administration. Whittards of Chelsea has been bought by Epic Private Equity after going through a 'pre-pack' administ

A Happy New Year in prospect for Taylor Wimpey
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said today that it will reach an agreement on its debt covenants with lenders before the end of the year. It added that it will announce the outcome of its discussions before its preliminary results. "

2008 ends on a sour note for Speymill
Speymill Contracts, which has focussed on hotel and leisure developments of substantial value, primarily on a design and build/turnkey solution for clients has run into trouble as business development plans in the UK budget hospitality sector have gone on

IPD index confirms "double dip" as UK commercial property enters second dip
UK commercial property prices have already fallen by 25% since last summer, but there is now clear evidence is that the UK property market has entered its so-called “double dip” phase as falling rents from struggling office and retail occupier

Top property economist says UK residential market won't have a soft landing, buyers should wait 12 months.
In a recent interview Ed Stansfield, who manages the commercial and residential property research at Capital Economics said: "I think it’s fair to say that the housing market in the UK at least has never enjoyed a soft landing in the wake of a

Major developments approved for Ealing Town Centre
Ealing Councillors on the planning committee have overwhelmingly agreed to pass the Arcadia site planning application, which could see 567 new homes built on the vacant 4.2-acre 'gap' site in Ealing Broadway town centre. The decision comes as a

RICS raises 750,000 empty homes issue suggesting VAT incentives to landlords
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has told Government that action is needed to free up more than 750,000 empty houses for homeless people, says . England has nearly 1.7 million people on social housing waiting lists, the Local Govern

Irish government finally moves to recapitalise the 3 main banks after Directors Loans scandal
The Irish government will invest €5.5 billion (£5.12 billion) in the country's three main lenders, taking majority control of Anglo Irish Bank after the Directors Loan scandal there rocked an already beleaguered industry. Investors h

DTZ report H1 loss of £11.2 million and £55million share issue to avoid administration
DTZ Holdings plc the global property services firm, has this morning  revealed an £11.2m pretax loss in the six months to 31 October. To stave off administration the firm  is issuing up to 203.8m new shares to raise up to £55million

Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank resigns after admitting misleading shareholders over Directors loans
Anglo Irish Bank said yesterday that chairman Sean FitzPatrick had resigned, and it had accepted his resignation. The bank said in a press statement that FitzPatrick would be succeeded by Donal O'Connor. In a statement to the Irish T

Credit crunch hits commercial property investment in Scotland harder than rest of UK
Investment in commercial property in Scotland has suffered a dramatic £2 billion slump this year, new figures have revealed. There were only about £850 million worth of deals done north of the Border in 2008, compared with nearly £2

Retail sales show unexpected strength in November
Retail sales rose unexpectedly in November, helped by online shoppers, official data showed today, but record high government borrowing and shrinking mortgage lending underlined the scale of the country's economic downturn. The pound, pummelled

New chief for British Land
British Land , the UK's second-largest real estate investment trust, has appointed former Barclays Commercial Bank chief Chris Grigg to succeed Stephen Hester as chief executive, the company said today. Grigg, who left Barclays in November, wil

Mortgage Lending to go negative in 2009 say CML as repayments will outstrip borrowings
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published its mortgage market forecast for 2009, admitting net lending is likely to fall into the negative - as consumers repay existing mortgage debt to a greater extent than they borrow on new mortgages - to as

Taylor Wimpey shares bounce on leak that refinancing talks are expected to yield results by end Feb
Shares in Taylor Wimpey closed up 7% after reports of an internal e-mail saying the housebuilder is making progress with its talks over its debt.Analysts have said that an internal email sent by Taylor Wimpey chief executive Pete Redfern to staff o

Barratt sells £46million Wilson Bowden sheds
Barratt has raised £46million by selling industrial assets from its Wilson Bowden development arm, as it continues to try and pay down its £1.7bn debt. The house builder is cashing in on the sale of industrial land and buildings

Commercial property rental values to fall 7% over next 2 years say GVA Grimley
Commercial property rentals nationally will fall by 7% in the next 2 years as the recession begins to bite, according to the latest research. However, with sentiment in the sector worsening by the week, falls in rental value could exceed these

Lack of housing demand forces Tarmac to close pre-cast concrete products factory with loss of 62 jobs
Tarmac, part of mining giant Anglo American, is closing a UK factory and cutting 94 jobs due to the downturn in the housing market, the company said today. Tarmac said its Tarmac Topfloor pre-cast concrete flooring business was shutting a facto

Galliford Try win £25million Stratford housing contract
Galliford Try has been awarded a £25m affordable housing contract at Stratford in east London. The housebuilder will provide 178 apartments in a mixed-tenure development for One Housing Group. The scheme is planned to use susta

Value of UK commercial property loans in breach of terms has trebled in last 6 months
Leicester Business School, De Montfort University undertakes twice yearly surveys on the UK commercial property lending market, which are are sponsored by 15 organisations including the Bank of England and the Financial Times reports today that the value

British Land gets green light for £300million Sheffield mixed development
British Land have received Sheffield council permission  for a £300million office and housing development next to the Meadowhall shopping centre. Earmarked for largely derelict industrial land between Meadowhall and Weedon Street, it

Shard of Glass to be built on schedule after further Qatari funding
Construction on the Shard of Glass, planned to be the UK's tallest building, will start in January after a last-minute funding boost from Qatari investors. The substantial funds should be enough to ensure that the Shard is finished by 2012, des

BoE reports that economy is getting worse and further rate cuts are likely
The outlook for the economy has worsened in recent weeks and there is a substantial risk inflation could fall below 1% next year, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said today. Earlier, official data showed inflation fell to 4.1% in November

More non-food retailers struggle as Comet and Carpetright report sales down
Retailers Kesa Electricals and Carpetright added more misery to the sector, both posting slumps in profit, slashing dividends and warning on the outlook as even massive discounts fail to tempt consumers to part with their cash. Both retailers h

Spurs reveal new White Hart Lane plans
Tottenham Hotspur FC have unveiled their first images of the club's proposed new 60,000 seater stadium design. Designs for the new-look White Hart Lane have been developed by KSS as part of the Northumberland Development Project. The

LaSalle say UK commerial property is a buy in 2009
The UK commercial property market has become best value in the world for investment, according to the annual strategy review by global property fund manager LaSalle Investment Management. LaSalle, believes that so-called “fair value&rdquo

Losses from biggest fraud in history hit RBS, Santander, BNP and many others
Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander and a string of other banks and have exposure through trading and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds invested with Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC. News broke last week of a $50bil

Barclays CEO says UK house prices have a further 15% to fall and that 700000 more jobs will be lost
 Barclays CEO has told Sky News he believes UK house prices will come down by 30% from their peak. John Varley says the property slump is "probably about halfway through" and house prices will fall by up to 15% next year. <

Balfour Beatty wins High Court battle with Modus over Blackpool retail development
Balfour Beatty was awarded  £1.2million in the High Court after clash on design changes with developer Modus Corovest. Balfour Beatty has won a High Court face-off with property developers Modus Corovest, in a row over a £33mil

HBOS reveals bad debts of £8billion and says outlook is grim ahead of shareholder meeting
HBOS Plc  which is being taken over by Lloyds TSB Group Plc , said bad debts and other charges jumped to £8 billion  this year as corporate and home loans soured. Britain's biggest home lender said the losses would hit its capit

Westfield delay 3 major retail schemes and start consultation period for up to 80 staff
Westfield the Australian based developer  has delayed starting work on 3 UK shopping centres worth £1.2billion and started a wave of redundancies as the economic downturn takes its toll on retail development. It is understood that th

Travelodge & Lidl knock out Aldi in Newcastle-under-Lyme as plans get green light
Altrincham-based Stanier Homes has been given permission to build a 6 storey 82-bedroom Travelodge hotel and Lidl supermarket in Stanier Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme. The new buildings will replace disused  Georgia Pacific paper mill, whic

GMAC falling short of new capital needed to become a bank and receive lifeline
GMAC said yesterday  it could drop its attempt to become a bank holding company after failing to raise the capital needed, casting doubt on its ability to survive the financial crisis. The ailing consumer and small business lender part-own

Commercial property development activity falling at record rate say Savills
Savills' November index of commercial development activity shows 13th monthly fall in a row The UK commercial property sector continued to deteriorate at an increasingly rapid rate last month, new research by Savills has shown. Its T

Pritchard Group get green light for £45million Wolverhampton hotel and SME accomodation scheme
Pritchard Group, the Cannock-based property developer,  has been given the green light to build a £45million hotel and ‘Employment and Innovation’ centre on Stafford Road in Wolverhampton as part of the city’s northern gateway

Commercial property companies hit by fears of negative equity
It's not just homeowners who are facing up to the prospect of negative equity. The big property developers will also suffer from the condition next year, and if they do Britains banks will use more of their scarce capital to make provisions for them. The number of people looking to buy a new home increased for the first time in two years during November, according to

Commercial Mortgage lender launches investment fund to keep lending going
The Commercial Credit fund has been launched by commercial mortgage lender Business Lending, which hopes to raise up to £500million. The fund will invest in medium-term loan notes secured on commercial property in the UK, originated throu

Historic fall in High Street sales will hit retailers profits by £3.6billion with worse to come
Retail sales fell at their sharpest annual pace since records began, two surveys showed today in a grim portent of the all-important Christmas shopping season. The British Retail Consortium said like-for-like sales fell 2.6% on the year last mo

New Edinbugh waterfront masterplan unveiled
The new multi-million pound masterplan for two new urban villages, esplandes, piers, offices, homes and a marina with a cross-Forth commuter ferry berth is to be unveiled for Leith Docks at Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Harbour plans are being revea

ARLA survey of BTL market says landlords are sitting tight. despite oversupply of rental property
Nine out of ten investment landlords are marking time, neither selling nor buying residential rental property, even though asset values and rental yields have fallen, according to the fourth quarter ARLA Members Survey of the Private Rented Sector, publis

HSBC sends mixed signals as it plans to increase residential lending
HSBC Holdings  said it plans to increase the amount of funding it makes available for mortgages by 20% to £15 billion  in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bank hopes the move will increase its share of the mortgage

Whitbread continues to delight the market
Whitbread, the country's biggest hotel and restaurant operator, today reported increased sales for the first 39 weeks of its financial year and said it had benefited from its focus on value-for-money brands. The operator of Premier Inn hotels,

Knight Frank partners reap bonuses down 29% to £780,000 as market takes it's toll
Senior staff at estate agency and commercial property group Knight Frank pocketed a total of £46 million in bonuses, despite the collapse in value in its key residential and commercial property markets. The firm's 46 "proprietary&quo

Second dip of Double dip in commercial property values has begun
The fall in the values  of commercial property  will be worse than the downturns of the 1990s and 1970s, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Since the onset of a property downturn in mid-2007, capital values hav

Well placed Berkeley H1 profits down 12%
Housebuilder and construction company Berkeley Group Holdings reported a 12% drop in first half pretax profit but said it was well positioned thanks to its strong cash position. "Berkeley has always planned for a cyclical market and, with

Marstons meets expectations with profit down 13% at £85million
Marstons turnover for 2008, which saw the first full year of the smoking ban, increased by 2.0% to £666.1 million (2007: £652.8 million). The 2,250 strong pub business reported a profit before taxation and exceptional items of &pound

New chairman appointed at Maximus after death of founder Dick Hickton
Maximus, the Worcestershire-based property and investment company, has appointed Roger Hingley FRICS as Non-Executive Chairman following the untimely death of founder Dick Hickton. Previously managing director of Littlewoods Properties, Mr Hing

Bellway report that the housing market still constrained by mortgage finance
Bellway PLC, the 4th largest house builder in the UK, in it's interim statement has reported that since the group reported its annual results on 14 October, the trading environment has continued to be extremely testing, constrained by weak consumer confid

More HBoS backed celebrity property companies go bust
The property market claimed a host of celebrity victims yesterday when several companies whose investors include Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir David Frost and Grant Bovey collapsed into administration.  aAim, a £3 billion property investmen

Tchenguiz sells half stake in Chesterton for modest sum to partner
Vincent Tchenguiz' Consensus Business Group has left the estate agency business after selling it's 50% holding in  Chesterton to partner Mercantile Group. Mr Tchenguiz  had built interests in a number of estate agency businesses, such

Shaftesbury post £221million loss and NAV down 25%
London West End  REIT Shaftesbury has reported a £221million pre-tax loss and posted a 25% fall in NAV per share to 482p as commercial property values continue to plunge. The company, which owns around 1,000 shops, restaurants, offi

King Sturge moves to cut costs with loss of up to 80 HQ jobs
King Sturge, one of the fastest-growing commercial agency practices in the recent times, is to cut 60-80 jobs from its Warwick Street West End HQ. All staff working at Warwick Street are now in a two-month consultation period, and further consu

Clive Cowdery receives cautious support for Mk2 Resolution vehicle
Clive Cowdery, the insurance entrepreneur, has secured commitments from investors of just over £500million for a new Resolution vehicle to consolidate the hard-hit financial services sector, at the lower end of his range of expectation  to rais

Construction activity at record low say CIPS
The construction industry faced its largest recorded contraction in activity in November, according to new data from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). While housing remained the worst hit sector, the survey said that civi

Spanish banks takeover Metrovaseca in debt for equity swap
Spanish property company Metrovacesa's core shareholders the Sanahuja family said yesterday they have reached a debt-for-equity deal with creditor banks, who will take a 54% stake in the company. The company's trophy asset is HSBC Tower, which it last

Liverpool property firm Downing report portfolio value down 8% on year of growth
Downing, the Liverpool based commercial developer and landlord, says the value of its office portfolio has fallen in the past year from £126.5million to £117million. The firm owns and asset manages around 1million sq ft of commercia

Tesco finding it tough at the top as Q3 sales growth weakens to 2%
Tesco, the country's biggest retailer, said underlying third-quarter UK sales growth had slowed to 2.0% even though new "Discounter" products had drawn in an extra 300,000 customers a week. "We are pleased with our progress but w

Greene King meeting expectations in a tough market
British pubs group Greene King reported a 15% decline in first half pretax profit  today but maintained its dividend as it  said it had comfortably met its debt obligations. Greene King, which has around 2,500 pubs in England and Scot

Lower rates have not improved supply of residential mortgages say BoE figures
Yesterday's Bank of England data release on mortgage approvals which show the market to be at historically low levels (70% down on last October at just £459million for the month) would appear to indicate that the market is being held back not by

London Scottish Bank -specialist commercial property lender goes into administration
London Scottish Bank  said today it had gone into administration after failing to plug a gap in its capital reserves. In a statement, the Treasury said no savers would lose money as a result of LSB's collapse, even if their savings exceede

House prices down 8.1% in past year but derivatives suggest they have much further to fall.
Average property prices across England and Wales have fallen 8.1% over the past year, according to a survey of estate agents and surveyors released today. The report from Hometrack, the housing data analysis company, shows prices are now back t

RBS boost campaign for better treatment of late payers with 6 months grace period.
The  campaign to force Britain’s banks to do more to help customers weather the economic downturn will gain a boost today with a promise from Royal Bank of Scotland to give at least six months’ breathing space to homeowners who fall behin

Belfast to get £97million Titanic Project and new £150million bus transit system
The Northern Ireland Executive has decided to fund the £97 million Titanic project with £44 million of public money, in a bid  to reinvigorate Belfast far beyond the east Belfast location of the building work by creating a tourist dest

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson's lenders force management into another 20% job cuts
Management and lenders to Crest Nicholson have agreed to a debt restructuring plan that will involve Crest's main lenders taking control of the struggling housebuilder in a debt for equity swap.  It is understood a deal has been reached whereby the f

Germans buy Viking Direct shed in Leicester for £30million
German fund manager Hansainvest has acquired a logistics property in Leicester, for £30 million from Goodman Group. The asset was acquired on behalf of its Hansareal 1 institutional fund. The property extends over a total area of 76,000 m

Metrovaseca in HSBC Tower deadline as repossesion of trophy asset looms
Troubled Spanish property company Metrovacesa  is running out of time to refinance an £810 million loan it raised from HSBC to buy its European headquarters in London at the peak of Britain's property boom. Metrovacesa has less than

Helical Bar calls bottom of the commercial property market next year and reports H1 profits up 74%
Helical Bar has spent the past few years scaling down its portfolio, but Mike Slade, property veteran and Helical Bar chief executive, said the company intends to start buying again from spring 2009, to seize opportunities that only arise "once or tw

Taylor Wimpey's many lenders disagree on terms of debt for equity rescue
Sources close to the crisis talks between Taylor Wimpey and its lenders have said a split has emerged between the company’s lending banks about the terms of a rescue deal. The company is locked in talks with lenders about its debt-pile of

DSG swing to H1 loss while Kingfisher beats analysts expectations with profits up 8.3% in Q3
DSG International, Europe's second-largest electrical goods retailer, swung to it's first H1 loss in over 20 years and suspended its dividend as it grapples with the deepening consumer downturn. "Given the current economic conditions, the

Woolworths and MFI go into administration putting 30,000 jobs in peril
Around 30,000 UK retail jobs are at risk today, as both furniture chain MFI  and DVDs-to-sweets group Woolworths called in administrators. MFI, part of which went into administration in September, said the remaining 111 stores rescued in a

M&B FY results show profit of £179million in challenging market
Mitchells & Butlers Plc has reported it's preliminary 2008 results which show a  FY profit before tax £179 million on a revenue of £1,908 million. Trading has become tougher but current trading is resilient with like-for-li

New Star International Property fund investors locked in.
New Star Asset Management suffered a further blow yesterday when its flagship international property fund was forced to stop trading and lock investors in after redemptions by institutional investors left it dangerously low on cash. The fund h

Clinton Cards report sharp fall in sales
Essex-based Clinton Cards told investors ahead of its annual general meeting it  has experienced a sharp fall in sales, blaming the "harsh economic conditions" on the High Street. The retailer said group like-for-like sales - whi

Southern Cross appoints 3rd CEO in a year
The UK's biggest care home operator Southern Cross  said it had appointed Jamie Buchan as its new chief executive, having led the turnaround of the ExCeL exhibition centre in London. Buchan's appointment follows the departure of former Chi

Chancellor rules out Opco/Propco REIT conversions to protect tax revenues
Following the Chancellor's announcement that REIT rules will be changed so  at least 75% of their gross income comes from the rental of property to tenants, which will ensure that groups which are not genuine property investment businesses cannot bec

Partial U turn on empty rate relief announced in £16 billion tax cut
In his pre-Budget Report the Chancellor has cut VAT to 15% and given small firms a temporary increase in threshold for empty property relief, among a raft of measures aimed at kickstarting Britain which will cost £16billion. The Chancell

Plans for £20million mixed commercial scheme at Chesterfield submitted
Plans for a £20 million hotel and office development on the outskirts of Chesterfield have been submitted to Chesterfield Borough Council. Situated at Lockoford Lane, Whittington Moor off the A61, the Casa Hotel and Office Scheme will be

Report on Planning Reform contains 17 proposed changes
The government's Killian-Pretty report has recommended a raft of measures to speed up the planning application system. The report, published today, contains 17 recommendations. A period of consultation will now follow in which the government

Citigroup baled out by US government as other banks need further cash
The U.S. government agreed to prop up troubled No.2 bank Citigroup with more than $300 billion (£204 billion ), the latest bailout in a sector crippled by exposure to toxic mortgage debts and a crumbling economy, after its shares plunged by more tha

Woolworths in further talks with Hilco.
Struggling retailer Woolworths is locked in talk over a rescue deal as company restructuring specialist Hilco sweetened its bid by offering to take on more debt, the Sunday Times reported. Hilco is seeking to buy Woolworth's 840 high street sho

Barclays back former David McLean finance chiefs to buy housing business from administrators.
David McLean's group finance director John Kendrick last night bought the Flintshire-based firm's house-building division. Kendrick is understood to be paying around £40million for the subsidiary, which recorded profits of £13.9mill

St Modwen keeps within banking covenants
St Modwen Properties, in an End of year trading update,  will be in full compliance with banking covenants at its year-end on 30 November and is trading profitably despite very slow market conditions. The group has benefited from strong

October mortgage lending 7% up on September
Information today from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) shows that gross mortgage lending totalled an estimated £18.7 billion in October, almost 7% higher than what was an admittedly weak £17.5 billion lent in September. The mo

Heritable Bank collapse hits stars investment company's development at Aldgate East
Shares in AIM listed Formation Group plunged 32% in early trading after the Cheshire-based wealth and talent management company said it may face a liability of as much as £11.6million relating to the collapse of Icelandic bank Landsbanki. The fir

Woolworths in talks about sale of the business for £1
Sweets-to-CDs retailer Woolworths is in talks about a sale of its high street business for a nominal 1 pound to Hilco, a company turnaround specialist, The Times newspaper reported today. The paper said the talks would hinge on how much debt Hi

British Land NAV drop gets steeper at 22% in H1 2008 resulting in a pre-tax loss of £1335 million
British Land, the country's second-largest real estate firm, which has been on the hunt for a new chief executive since Stephen Hester was lured to Royal Bank of Scotland last month, has reported  H1 net asset value per share 1043 pence, down 22% in

Sutton Harbour Holdings H1 profits down 50%
Sutton Harbour Holdings, the Plymouth based regeneration specialist and airport operator, has reported a halving in H1 profits to just half a million pounds and says it has experienced “an exceptionally difficult general economic environment”.

Enterprise Inns report FY profits down 12.6% to £263million
Enterprise Inns, Britain's second-biggest pubco, reported a 12.6% decline in full-year pretax profit today as sales were hit by a smoking ban and deterioration in consumer spending. The group, which has 7,700 pubs, made a pretax profit before e

Wolseley cuts 2300 UK jobs and announces closure of over 200 UK branches
Wolseley, the Reading-based company, which earns around half of its annual £16 billion sales across the Atlantic best known for its Build Center and Plumb Center trading names, reported Q1 pretax pre-exceptionals profits down 45% today. I

Boris Johnson and 60 Labour backbenchers call for restoration of empty rates relief
Gordon Brown is coming under pressure from his own backbenchers to scrap a tax on empty property, which is blamed for the demolition of buildings that developers cannot sell. Sixty backbench Labour MPs have signed motions urging the prime minis

JP Morgan boosts morale with relocation deal to Canary Wharf
JPMorgan  will relocate its European HQ to London's Canary Wharf from the City, boosting morale in Britain's second-largest business district amidst a wave of financial sector job cuts. JPMorgan has paid Canary Wharf Group £237 milli

H&M fashion sales fall on like for like basis 3 months in a row.
Swedish fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz with around 100 of it's 1700 worldwide stores in the UK, posted monthly sales figures that were in line with market forecasts today, with revenue from established stores dropping a modest 2%. Because of it's glob

Workspace knocked to £128.5million H1 loss as NAV falls 25.4%
Workspace Group PLC, the provider of business accomodation principally in the London area has reported H1 results dominated by a pre-tax loss for the six month period of £128.5million (2007: profit £19.9million) The loss is caused b

Retail barometer John Lewis sales decline further
John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, posted a 9.7% fall in weekly sales at its department stores today. That was the eighth decline in a row. The group, which runs 27 department sto

Edinburgh office sector boost from stockbroker expansion
Edinburgh stockbroker Bell Lawrie has signed a 15-year lease on new Princes Street premises in Edinburgh in a deal property agents are hailing as one of the biggest office deals of 2008. Bell Lawrie has taken 11,000sq ft on the third floor at 4

GPE suffer NAV drop of 15.3% in H1 2008
Great Portland Estates, the central London office specialist suffered a 15.3% plunge in its net asset value in H1 2008, as the worsening financial markets took their toll. GPE said today that its NAV had dropped to 493p a share in the six month

UK Coal signs windpower deal with stake builder Peel Holdings
UK Coal and property and airports group Peel Holdings have reached an agreement to develop wind farms on UK Coal land. Under the terms of the two-year deal a Peel subsidiary, Peel Energy, will work with UK Coal to identify and assess potential

Capital & Regional reveal 8.7% drop in Mall Fund in one month
Capital and Regional PLC, the  co-investing fund manager said in it's Q3 interim management statement, that it had completed the sale of 3 shopping centres to Carlyle from The Mall Fund and that while the fund still has a 60% LTV covenant restriction

Boris approves further developments at Canary Wharf
Three significant planning proposals for Canary Wharf have been approved by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. They include the Isle of Dogs Crossrail station, a new 27-storey hotel and the complete redevelopment of Wood Wharf to provide new offices and shops

Savills report Commercial Property construction falls to it's lowest ever level
Savills Total Commercial Development Activity Index hits lowest ever level last month, with private work most affected. Commercial development activity fell in October as economic conditions worsened, new data from Savills has shown. <br /

Land Securities reports H1 loss of £1.74billion and abandons demerger plans
Land Securities has reported a loss of more than £1.7billion over the six months to 30 September, brought on by valuation falls in the UK property market. Continuing adverse market conditions has meant the group has decided to stop its plans for dem

CBRE report commercial property values down 27% over past year
Commercial property values dropped by a further 4.6% in October, extending the market's price correction to 27.4% from its summer 2007 peak, data from property consultant CB Richard Ellis showed. The CB Richard Ellis Monthly Index for October s

CBRE plan stock offering to reduce debt
CB Richard Ellis, the world's largest publicly-traded commercial real estate services firm is aiming to raise around $355million  (£228million) of equity through an issue of shares, partly to pay down some of its mountain of debt. Th

Evans Property lines up finance for the acquisition trail
Evans Property Group, has strengthened its war chest for possible acquisitions after securing a £175m debt facility with two major banks. The group has agreed the senior debt facility with The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays Com

Taylor Wimpey shareholders meet today midst the ruins of their investment as vultures circle.
Taylor Wimpey said today it's build rate is now 40% of "normal" level and reservations in H2 are averaging 165 per week, with an order book of 6607 homes compared to 11074 at the same time last year. In the absence of any improvement

Barclays face shareholder veto to recapitalisation plans
Several of Barclays large shareholders beside many smaller ones have in recent days criticised John Varley, Barclays' chief executive, and said they were dissatisfied with the terms of the fund raising, which will see Middle Eastern investors owning about

Further decline in house sales volume say RICS to lowest in more than 30 years
House prices fell slightly less sharply in the three months to October than in the three months to September, a survey showed today, but home sales hit the lowest in at least 30 years. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house

HSBC powers ahead in Q3 despite over £3 billion in writedowns
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, said its profit in the third quarter was ahead of a year earlier as growth in Asia helped offset almost $5 billion (£3.2 billion) in bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset writedowns. HSBC said its profits in

Hammerson slams the brakes on.
UK and French retail property specialist Hammerson  is to freeze all development starts until end-2009 as potential tenants suspend expansion plans amid Europe's rapidly cooling economy. In an interim management statement today, Hammerson

Nationwide takes 18% fall in H1 pre-tax profits as they boost liquidity
The Nationwide Building Society has reported H1 underlying profit before tax, which excludes merger costs and fair value gains on derivatives and hedge accounting, of £322 million (H1 2007: £394 million) is down 18% reflecting their decisio

Stoford debt fund new £13million distribution development by M18
 Stoford Ltd, the Birmingham based commercial property development company which which recently won the Bank of Scotland regional property entreprenur title, has started work at Capitol Park, Thorne, to develop two high-quality distribution units.

Galliford Try write off a further £50million as housing values plummet.
Galliford Try plc, the construction and housebuilding group, ahead of its AGM today, said that there has been a further marked deterioration of the housing market which has convinced the firm to writedown the book value of it's housing assets by a further

Segro shares up on statement but fall again on Morgan Stanley prediction of 42% fall in property shares
Segro, the developer of industrial property, said in an interim statement, it was cautious about the outlook both for occupier and investment markets, anticipating weakening demand for industrial space and forecasting that values would continue to decl

Base Rate cut to 3%
  The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has cut Bank base rate (BBR) by 1.5% to 3%.The move follows a surprise cut of 0.5% a day early las

REI purchase shopping parade for £4.15million cash
Real Estate Investors, the Birmingham based AIM-listed investment company headed by Paul Bassi, has added to its portfolio with the purchase of a retail parade in Kings Heath, Birmingham from Rockspring Property Investment Managers for £4.15 million

Banks continue to provide lending to construction and development sectors.
Banks are still lending to companies in riskier areas such as property development and construction, though there are signs of far greater caution. The CBI employers organisation has appealed to banks to step up lending this winter when large

Liberty posts Q3 pre tax loss of £1.059billion as NAV falls 23%
Liberty International, the retail REIT, reported it's total return for the nine month period ended 30 September 2008 at -20.5%  with Net Asset Value per share  down 23% from 1264p to 975p. This reflects the valuation down on the period by 12.1%

Punch Taverns FY sales down 7% while Wetherspoon Q1 sales up 1.5%
Punch Taverns, Britain's biggest pub operator, reported a decline in full year earnings today reflecting a 7% reduction in the size of its estate following the disposal of less profitable pubs. Punch, which has 8,424 pubs, reported a pretax pro

Battersea Power Station owners get more debt to proceed with their plans
Real Estate Opportunities (REO) has secured a further £40m of debt to finance the development of Battersea Power Station in  London, it said in a statement to the market. Bank of Scotland Corporate has increased an existing £18

Collapse in Irish market prices hits U2 Tower as £160 million project is shelved
U2 Tower – a massive development planned for the Dublin docklands – was shelved on Friday, as Ireland slumps further into recession after a decade-long property boom when prices quadrupled.The IPD/SCS Quarterly Property Index of Total Returns

Trump gets OPP for £1billion golf resort in Aberdeenshire
Donald Trump's £1bn golf resort plans for the Aberdeenshire coast have been approved. Trump can now develop the 1,400 acre beachside site into two championship golf resorts, a five star hotel, 950 time share properties and 450 houses..<br

IPD index for Q3 commercial property returns pushes annual losses to 17.2%
The IPD UK Quarterly Property Index fell -4.8% for the fifth consecutive quarter, however IPD said that the quarterly losses, during the three months to 30th September 2008, are still less than the index’s most significant fall of -7.5% which was re

Liverpool property business "The Venmore Partnership" in trouble
Liverpool's old established property business The Venmore Partnership was last night on the verge of being sold to a Wirral-based estate agency chain,Bradshaw Farnham & Lea. Venmore partner Phil Cassidy admitted on Friday that Venmore was a

HBOS to write off £5.2 billion and Lloyds £300 million as residential property weakens
 HBOS Plc raised its hit from the value of risky assets and bad loans to over £5 billion today and its takeover partner Lloyds TSB warned of a sharp fall in profits. The banks said the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB remained on track

Demand for commercial property falling fastest in retail say RICS
Demand for commercial property is falling at the fastest pace in a decade, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)as across the UK, 52% more chartered surveyors reported a fall than a rise in demand compared to 50% in Quarter 2 20

Barclays raise £7.3 billion from private investors, market says premium for avoiding government too great
Middle East investors will own up to one third of Barclays after Abu Dhabi and Qatar provided most of £7.3 billion raised by the bank today to repair damage from the global financial crisis and avoid taking government rescue funds. Barcla

Four Seasons avoids bankruptcy as creditors extend time to complete agreement on debt for equity swap.
Four Seasons Health Care Group, the third largest care homes operator in the UK, and Europe’s first large failed buyout since the credit crunch started, has missed bankruptcy by agreeing with its lenders to postpone debt repayments until late Januar

John Lewis report sales last week down 9.8% on last year
John Lewis Partnership, retail sector bellweather, said today that last week's sales at its 27 department stores fell 9.8% year on last year. The group said the fall of half-term school holidays led to an easing of trade in many areas during th

Surrey housebuilder goes bust
Premier Properties, which is based in Camberley, Surrey, and was involved in the construction and development of high end residential property in the South-east, has gone out of business. KPMG has been appointed joint administrators to the

Norris calls for SIPP's to be allowed to own residential property
Steven Norris, adviser to Boris Johnson on transport and development, has called upon the government to stimulate the residential housing market by taking the step they almost took on A Day 2006 and allowing SIPP's to own residential property. 

Spurs announce plans to build new 60,000 seat stadium near Whit Hart Lane in mixed use development
Tottenham Hotspur have announced plans to build a new 60,000-capacity stadium near their current White Hart Lane ground. Called the Northumberland Development Project,it is a large-scale development incorporating leisure facilities, public spa

Nationwide report biggest monthly house price fall since 1991 at 1.4%
British house prices fell 1.4% in the month of October to post their biggest annual drop since comparable records began in 1991, the Nationwide building society said today. The 12th consecutive monthly drop highlights the reversal of fortune fo

Further momentum to BPF "Empty Rates" protest as Birmingham City Council joins
Birmingham City Council has thrown its weight behind a national campiagn calling on the Government to rethink a property tax stifling commercial development in the city. Council leader Mike Whitby has put his name to an open letter to the Prime

Scotland's commercial property business propped up by Aberdeen say Ryden
Ryden's 63rd biannual Scottish Property Review says the Scottish commercial property market is managing to ride out the economic storm thanks to strong office activity in Aberdeen and a buoyant industrial sector. But office lettings in Edinburgh and

House of Lords helps landlords with "a dose of common sense"
Landlords have been spared an expensive and exacting administrative process to recover rent from former tenants and guarantors in a landmark House of Lords judgement today. The Scottish & Newcastle vs Raguz case centres on how rent is recov

Jones Lang La Salle Q3 profits down 68% as one off expenses take their toll
Jones Lang LaSalle, the US based global property consultancy, this morning revealed that its profits in the third quarter fell 68% due in part to acquisition and restructuring charges, which is similar to the drop in Q2 profits. Third-quarter n

JD Wetherspoon High Court damages case against former property agent gets going
JD Wetherspoon's law suit for damages against former property advisor, Pinner based  Van de Berg & Co, for breaching its fiduciary duty to the company has begun in the High Court. Tim Martin, Founder and Chairman of JDW, claims Van de

Regulated mortgages become scarcer as arrears rise 16% and repossessions rise 71% on last year
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published today its latest mortgage lending data covering the period from Q1 2007 to the end of Q2 2008. The total value of outstanding loans is £1,178billion, an increase of 7.5% compared to

Goodman looks to Asia for growth and recapitalises with a A$1.3 billion share issue and asset sale plan
The Goodman Group, formerly known as Macquarie Goodman, today announced four initiatives to strengthen its balance sheet and increase its exposure to the growth markets of Asia. The initiatives are: a $755 million fully underwritten equity raising; com

Bank of England expects the banking system to stabilise following global intervention
Global intervention should steady the banking system but it will also put big constraints on banks, the Bank of England said today, six months after it said it expected confidence to return to financial markets. In its twice-yearly Financial

Santander and Abbey post strong Q3 results
Spain's biggest bank, Banco Santander, posted a 5.5% rise in net profit for the first nine months to September today, underpinned by robust recurrent earnings from its core retail banking business. In a statement, Santander said net profit came

Bassi concert party poised to take control of REI.
Paul Bassi and Marcus Daly are on the verge of taking control of Birmingham-based Real Estate Investors plc (REI). At the time of their appointment as directors of REI, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers deemed Bassi and Daly to be members of a concert pa

LSH report UK commercial property transactions in Q3 the lowest since 2001
The Lambert Smith Hampton UK Investment Transactions (UKIT) Report for Q3 shows £4.5billion of deals recorded in the third quarter which is the lowest quarterly total since the same period 2001. Q4 is expected to see further reduced level

Housebuilder David McClean goes bust
Housebuilder David McLean Group, which includes its trading subsidiaries David McLean Contractors, David McLean Developments and David McLean Homes, today went into administration as Deloittes has confirmed it has been appointed as administrators for the

Persimmon Homes will meet expectations for FY 2008 but fear for 2009 as sales evaporate
The U.K.'s biggest homebuilder by market value said it will book £600 million  in land writedowns after house prices fell during the U.K.'s worst housing slump in 25 years. The provision represents about 19% of the company's land stock value as

Stoford win £10million BoS Property Entrepreneur prize
The regional winner of the Bank of Scotland Search for Property Entrepreurs has been announced for the Midlands and East Anglia. The result is one landmark project has been given a financial boost after its developer won the £10 million regional fin

Beer sales in Q3 down 8.1% as UK pubs come under greater pressure
UK publicans are pulling almost a fifth fewer pints than they were three years ago as the trade  struggles with the toughest trading environment in working memory. Five pubs a day have been closing and there are fears that rate will rise further.<

Stock market falls raise fears of solvency rather than just liquidity in UK plc
The top share index tumbled 7%, touching its lowest in 5-1/2 years by midday today, headed by energy stocks as weak growth data further deepened the gloom surrounding the economy, which for many will raise a fear of solvency in the economy rather than jus

UK housing market to fall much further - another 2.5% this year and 10% next year say experts
UK residential property prices will fall 15% this year, another 10% in 2009 and will take up to two years to stabilise despite the prospect of several more interest rate cuts, a Reuters poll showed today. The poll of 38 analysts at banks, inves

Commercial property contractors feel the pinch - Bovis Lend Lease looks to axe 200 jobs
Bovis Lend Lease is understood to have put up to 200 staff on notice of redundancy as the impact of the drop in commercial work bites the construction firm. Sources close to the firm stressed that the move was part of a legal process and did no

LloydsTSB on charm offensive to sell HBOS deal to it's shareholders
Many LloydsTSB investors begrudge the deal the government forced them into because they feel they could be invested in a strong, dividend paying, independent bank, still. They regret that the £37 billion recapitalisation plan was offered

Rightmove cuts 20% of workforce
Rightmove Group Plc  announced a wave of redundancies today, with about 20% of employees to leave the company in response to the slump in the UK housing market. The UK property search website said it will reduce its cost base for 2009 by a

Major landlords collaborate to put small tenants on monthly rent roll
Leading UK landlords, including Land Securities Prudential's PruPIM and Hammerson, are working on a raft of measures to aid small businesses facing a hard struggle against recession. Falling consumer spending means that the old practice of indep

Argent uses it's own banking facilities to keep Kings Cross project on track
Developer Argent has injected more of its own cash, using in part an existing mezzanine facility, into the £2bn regeneration of King’s Cross in central London after funding talks with banks collapsed. According to a report in today&

Construction & property companies bear the brunt of credit crunch
Construction and property companies suffered more than a third of the UK’s insolvencies in the autumn, highlighting their exposure to the credit crunch and resultant property slump. Research by Wilkins Kennedy, the top 30 accountancy firm

Green light for Walsall "Gigaport" £400million development
A green light has been given to Walsall Gigaport’, a fibre optic cabled development that will offer huge bandwidth as bait to attract new industries to the region and help deliver a strategically important Office Corridor to Walsall.An out

Further rate cuts forecast
Economists at Capital Economics are forecasting another big rate cut by the MPC when they announce their decision on interest rates this week. This follows on from last month's half point cut in a move that was co-ordinated with both the US Fed

Buy to Let investors return to the market for bargains
What have savvy investors realised? That Buy-to-let investment yields are rising, and despite the bad press which seems to have confused BTL with sub-prime taking advantage of properties with good letting potential at the right price is sensible. Add to t

Bloor Homes sell 335 unsold homes to Sanctuary Housing in £13million deal
Bloor Homes, the Derbyshire based privately owned housebuilder, has become the first housebuilder to take advantage of the government's offer of £200million to help buy up unsold private homes and turn them in to affordable housing. The g

Simon Morris arrested by West Yorkshire Police Organised Crime officiers.
Simon Morris, the property developer who was sacked by the administrators of his former company last week, has been arrested during a series of raids by police investigating fraud and money laundering allegations. The former Leeds United direct

Ashwell gets the green light for the £800million mixed use CB1 scheme
Cambridge planners have approved a £800million plan submitted by local firm Ashwell plc, to redevelop the city's railway station and its surrounds. The CB1 project was rejected by Cambridge City Council two years ago over density conce

NAB reports Yorkshire & Clydesdale Banks performing strongly expecting to benefit from banking shakeout
National Australia Bank (NAB), which owns  Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank, said today that its British businesses had continued to deliver a "strong trading performance relative to local peers" in what it described as a "challengin

Debenhams FY profits down 16% as margins come under pressure
Department store chain Debenhams has reported a 16% fall in profits and halved its share dividend as trading conditions deteriorate. Pre-tax profit before one-off items fell to £110.1million  for the year to 30 August, against &pound

Young shoppers support a sagging Arcadia as profits fall to £275million
Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group has reported a 6.1% drop in operating profits, but its young fashion brands including Topshop enjoyed a record year. Green said that Arcadia's young fashion brands Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge all had reco

Specialist lender Davenham in trouble
Davenham, a specialist lender to small property developers, saw its share price drop 73% yesterday after it warned that market conditions would eliminate profits and force it into talks with its banks.The company said that its portfolio of loans

Barratt Developments looking to sell land bank stake for £200million
Barratt Developments, the housebuilder, is seeking partners for a joint venture to invest in its strategic land bank. The move is one of a series of possible measures to help reduce its £1.65billion debt burden. A source said the company

Aldi to generate better site returns from stores with Travelodge upstairs
German discounter Aldi has joined with budget hotel operator Travelodge to develop joint hotel and store sites in the UK. The first site, due to open in Autumn 2009, will see Aldi and Travelodge develop a 74-room hotel above Aldi's existing Newquay store,

Europes banks need a further €94billion capital injection to match UK banks Tier1 ratios
ING grabbed a €10 billion Dutch cash injection and Sweden joined countries offering lifelines to their banks, as scrutiny of capital health switched to Societe Generale and its French peers. Shares in ING Group NV leapt 23% after the finan

Further Bank of England support measures introduced today for UK banks
The Bank of England acted today to make it easier for commercial banks to get short-term funding today, introducing new facilities promised last week to allow banks to borrow overnight and for up to a month. This action is against a backdrop of funding fo

Wilson Bowden push ahead with plans at Kingsway
Wilson Bowden Developments and the North West Development Agency, in partnership with the Rochdale Development Agency and Rochdale Council, have submitted a planning application for 600,000 sq ft of Industrial space at the 420 acre Kingsway business park.

Propinvest porfolio close to administration
Glenn Maud, the former Sheffield lawyer turned property tycoon, has been working on an urgent £2.5bn refinancing plan after one of his funds breached banking covenants, and it appears that his efforts may have failed, with administration the like

Travis Perkins passes on final dividend and cuts costs as downturn bites
Travis Perkins, the builders merchant and home improvements group, said it expected underlying profit for 2008 to be at the low end of analysts' expectations, reflecting the downturn in construction markets. The group said it is also unlikely t

Centros gets planning approval for £150 million Lancaster Canal Corridor scheme
Centros has received planning permission for its £150m mixed-use regeneration scheme for Lancaster city centre. At a marathon meeting of Lancaster City Council's planning committee has approved developer Centros' redevelopment of a brownfield city c

IPD say Commercial property returns at -18% for year and double dip trend now evident
IPD today released the results for its UK Monthly Property Index for September 2008. The Index showed all property total returns falling to -2.4%, compared with -1.1% in August, making September the weakest single month since the low points of

Marstons continues to meet expectations
Marstons is expected to turn in a respectable FY performance with turnover  approximately 2% ahead of last year in a difficult market. The firms results will be announced on December 5th, but in a year end trading statement the firm said that in the

UK must take enabling measures to tenfold increase offshore wind power to meet 2020 renewables target
In March 2007, the European Union set a target that 20% of energy consumed across Europe would need to come from renewable sources by 2020. Different countries took on different targets, based on both their existing renewable capacity and relative GDP per

Whitbread delight investors with H1 pre-tax profits up 24% thanks to Premier Inns
Whitbread, the country's biggest hotel and restaurants operator, reported a 24% increase in first-half pretax profit, helped by strong growth at its Premier Inn and Costa Coffee chains, driven by expanding capacity. Pretax profit before excepti

Housebuilder Bellway profits down 30%
Bellway plc, the nations 4th biggest housebuilder, has reported pre-tax profits down to £165.7million a 30% reduction on last year on a turnover 15% down to £1.149billion. which underlines the margin reduction the firm has accepted to move

Irish property prices collapse to 35% of recent levels intensifying the banking crisis
The value of property assets held by prominent Irish developers has collapsed to ruinous levels. So dire has the situation become that Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has written down by almost two-thirds the value of property held by some major develo

Knight Frank reduces head count in hotels division by closing Birmingham department
Knight Frank, has decided to consolidate its Midlands hotel business from Birmingham to London as a result of a “service line review”. The agency, which has a significant presence across all sectors including residential, commercial

Plans for £250million Stoke -on -Trent shopping centre regeneration submitted
Plans have been submitted for the £250 million regeneration of the East West Centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent City Centre. The plans were the vision of internationally renowned architects Benoy, who also designed the Birmingham Bullring. <

Latest news of big bank capital increases, and mergers
The government is to inject up to £37billion of new capital into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to raise £20billion - with the government buying £5billion of preference shares and

DTZ replaces CEO from November
DTZ, the global commercial property consultant, has hired the American Paul Idzik, former chief operating officer of Barclays, as its new chief executive. Mark Struckett signalled in June he was leaving DTZ after 14 years in the post. The acqui

Rugby Estates looking for £100 million warchest from shareholders
Rugby Estates chairman David Tye and Andrew Wilson, the  chief executive, are courting leading shareholders over a plan to raise £100million in fresh equity. The pair met Laxey Partners, the biggest shareholder, on Friday to seek app

Woolworth sell 9 leases to Tesco and Sir Alan takes a 4% stake
Woolworths Group has agreed to sell leases on up to nine stores to supermarket giant Tesco Plc for up to £9 million. It said proceeds from the disposals, which are expected to take up to six months, will be used to reduce group borrowings. Assuming

Scotland's new 400,000sq ft logistics park opens
Scotland's latest logistics park Centralpoint - the Elite Logistics Park - is the latest development at Eurocentral and provides over 423,660 sq ft of new industrial space across six buildings. Completed in September, the new logistics park whi

Candys pick up Kaupthing stakes in property developments
Nick and Christian Candy, the property entrepreneurs, have acquired full control from Kaupthing of a scheme in London, at the former Middlesex hospital near Oxford Street, and also  a development at 9900 Wilshire in Beverly Hills in the US after the

Grainger keeping within banking covenants
Grainger, the UK's largest residential landlord, said a boost in sales and reduced level of acquisitions meant it would stay within the terms of its banking agreements. Full-year profits at the Newcastle based company to the end of September ar

The current state of the banking nations -Iceland, Ireland and UK
Yesterday, the UK authorities seized control of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, the UK arm of Kaupthing, which employs almost 700 people in the City. Control of the business of Kaupthing Edge, its Internet bank,was transferred  to ING Direct and&

The safest banks are Canadian say the World Economic Forum
Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets. But Britain, which once ranked in th

Joe Lewis recoups some Bear Stearns losses picking up Tchenguiz's M&B stake cheaply
Joe Lewis, the Cockney Bahamas-based tax exile with investments in companies including Ladbrokes and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, is understood to have bought a 25% stake in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the pub operator, from Robert Tchenguiz. L

Bank of England cuts Base rates to 4.5%
In a shock move the Bank of England has cut Bank base rate to 4.5% from 5%.  A decision on rates was not expected until noon tomorrow. The Bank of England held an

Government bailout of UK banks - £50 billion of risk capital made available
The UK government has announced details of a rescue package for the banking system worth at least £50billion. It will make extra capital available to eight of the UK's largest banks and building societies. In return for the fun

HBOS sells Bank West to Commonwealth Bank of Australia as OZ banking consolidates
Commonwealth Bank of Australia agreed to buy  HBOS's Australian unit BankWest and other assets for a cheap A$2.1 billion ($1.5 billion), to boost its market share in fast-growing Western Australia. The cash deal by Australia's second-large

Tchenguiz 25% stake in M&B sold
Robert Tchenguiz, Mitchells & Butlers' largest shareholder, has sold a 25% stake in the UK pub group to an unknown buyer, the Financial Times reported. Some 101 million shares in the All Bar One operator changed hands after the formal close

Quintain in talks to sell 50% of it's Wembley scheme to UAE investors
UK developer Quintain Estates & Development  is talking to Gulf Arab investors about taking a stake in its Wembley City project and would also be open to selling a stake in the company, deputy chief executive Nick Shattock told Reuters. Once listed in the Sunday Times Young Rich List with an estimated fortune of £69million, a residential pr

Scotland's Heritor's cuts staff as sales dry up and 4 sites are mothballed
The credit crunch is now affecting the quality end of Scotland's residential property market, with  Heritor's Group being forced to put developments on hold. Edinburgh-based Heritor's, which buys properties in prime locations for refurbishment t

Public enquiry rejection of Coventry Airport expansion plan upheld in High Court
The High Court has dealt a potentially fatal blow to expansion plans for Coventry Airport. A judge upheld the Government's decision to reject moves to build a new terminal to take up to two million passengers a year. Earlier local bu

RICS survey says construction in all sectors is in decline and new homes target will be missed
The Government's house building target looks out of reach with fewer than 100,000 new homes expected to be built this year, RICS has warned. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said construction workloads were declining at their fastes

RBS to sell Grosvenor House Hotel for £720 million
The Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane is set to be the next trophy property for oil-rich buyers from the Gulf states. The landmark five-star hotel, which contains London's biggest banqueting hall, The Great Room, was built in the Twenties .<br

Advantage Trust sales confirm smaller commercial property valuations holding up
Advantage Property Income Trust Ltd.(formerly knowns as The Teesland Advantage Property Income Trust Ltd) said it has sold five of its investment properties for £4.17 million. The company said it achieved a value 1.8% above preceding valu

Birmingham based William Ashley Developments goes bust
William Ashley Developments a Birmingham property developer has gone bust with debts of nearly £4 million - with creditors claiming the collapsed firm’s sister companies are still selling houses. A spokesman for the Official Receive

Berlin guarantees retail deposits in package of moves to bail out Hypo Real Estate
Germany’s government and financial regulators  agreed yesterday a second bail-out package for Hypo Real Estate after the abrupt failure of a first attempt to rescue the property lender. HRE is a specialist commercial lender, it does

Guestinvest goes bust despite HBOS backing
GuestInvest Group Limited, the HBOS-backed  hotel investment firm, has appointed Deloitte as administrators, becoming the latest casualty of Britain's property crash, Deloitte said today. "We have today been appointed administrators a

Stockland reports flat UK H1 profits and remains cautious for full year
Stockland Group, Australia’s second-largest real estate investment trust, expects to take A$110 million (£48 million) in charges on its struggling UK business in the first half, the company said today. Operating profit in the UK wou

Commercial building activity falling at a record rate
The UK construction market is contracting rapidly, with commercial activity in particular falling at a record rate, according to data from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) and Markit UK. Their latest purchasing managers

£16billion Crossrail project threatened by funding issues as deadline passes
The falling property market may have knocked a £400million hole in the finances of Crossrail, the £16billion rail project to link east and west London. Last year, Crossrail and the government agreed that £800million for the sc

Funds pour into Irish banks as Irish parliament approves state guarantee
Ireland's banks are suddenly flavour of the month among nervous British savers after the Irish government stepped out of line with its European neighbours and pledged a blanket guarantee on all deposits. The Irish parliament yesterday approved

Bank of England says reduction of credit supply to consumers and businesses greater than expected
Banks tightened secured lending to households by more than they had expected in the third quarter of this year and credit across the economy was likely to become more scarce, a Bank of England survey showed. The BoE's quarterly credit condition

Plans submitted for £50million Ipswich town centre scheme
Following a public consultation in July, Chelmsford based developer  Turnstone has submitted a planning application in a joint venture with  investor RevCap for a £50million scheme to redevelop Ipswich's former Civic Centre site, building

Todays window on the economy from M&S, Ted Baker and Halfords
Evidence  from the High Street that consumers are cutting back comes today from Marks & Spencer  and Ted Baker. Britain's biggest clothing retailer, reported a 6.1% drop in second-quarter underlying sales  and said it was cut

Businesses move substantial funds into Ireland as questions about unfair state aid are raised
The Irish pledge unveiled on Tuesday  to guarantee the liabilities of six Irish-owned banks totalling some €400 billion, has raised questions in Brussels and London about competition and state-aid rules. One senior stockbroker told Re

Euro Zone economy shrinks for the 1st time since monetary union as inflationary pressures recede
 Euro zone manufacturing activity fell to a near seven-year low in September, below the flash estimate, and there may be more contraction to come despite some relief from a fall in prices, a key survey showed today. The Markit Eurozone Pur

JLL says UK commercial property sales down 58% YTD compared to last year
Five billion pounds of UK commercial property changed hands in the three months to end-September as the market continued to shrink due to a lack of debt funding and falling prices, data showed today. Property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle said

St Modwen warns of disappointing results to come
St. Modwen Properties said today that efforts to preserve the value of its portfolio were being undermined by a rapidly deteriorating UK property market. The company said the slide in UK property prices had continued and occupational demand was

Oakdene struggling as share issue fails and forced to turn to bank as latest victim of housing collapse
Housebuilder Oakdene has failed to raise £5m through a share placement and dropped more than £6m into the red for the first six months of 2008. It is also in breach of its banking covenants and relying on a temporary facility from i

New capital adequacy rules for European Banks proposed - speedy adoption expected.
Banks will have to tie up more capital to cover risk in their operations in future under European Union rules due to be unveiled today. The EU's executive European Commission wants to apply lessons learnt from the credit crunch, which this week

<