8 September 2016 | Marino Donati Vinci Facilities has won a three-year contract with department store business Debenhams.   Under the contract, Vinci will provide planned and reactive maintenance services to around 180 of the department store’s locations nationwide as well as stores in the Republic of Ireland.   Vinci said the contract included fabric, HVAC, lift and escalators, lighting and electrical services within a single contract arrangement.   Other contracts that Vinci has won in the first half of this year include contracts with five local authorities in a shared services contract (Hart District Council and Havant Borough Council, Mendip District Council, South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils, the Office of National Statistics, the Science & Technology Facilities Council, and extended contracts with the Welsh Government, Canals & River Trust and the Royal Parks.   Simon Dales, director of store operations for Debenhams, said: “Entering into a one stop all-inclusive contract with Vinci Facilities is an important move and will deliver overall efficiencies in management and operating costs while, at the same time, enhance the store environment and experience for our customers and colleagues.”   In May last year, Debenhams awarded a five-year contract extension to support services provider Interserve. It is providing cleaning, washroom services, window cleaning and pest control services at the retailer’s 124 stores and head office until 2018 under the deal, which has and extension option, and is worth up to £50 million. Source link

Post referendum uncertainty has compounded the impact of successive tax rises on values in London’s prime housing market and will delay the sector’s return to growth, according to international real estate adviser, Savills, which today issued revised five year forecasts.  The firm anticipates that the city’s highest value homes market will continue to adjust throughout 2016.  Value fluctuations are then expected to hover around zero for the next two years as Brexit negotiations play out, before returning to capital growth in line with the long term trend in 2019.    The prime central London markets, where values average around £4 million, have been most impacted by changes to stamp duty since December 2014.  Prices were -8.1 per cent below their 2014 peak by the time of the referendum, including falls of -2.2 per cent in the first six months of this year.  As a result, Savills believes that further price adjustments in the order of 6 or 7per cent will be required to secure sales as buyers wait to see how Brexit negotiations proceed, and the impact on the UK and London economy becomes clearer, although the currency play is a clear boost to international buyer interest.  Prime central London values are therefore now expected to close 2016 down -9.0 per cent and stabilise for  the next two years.  A return to growth in 2019 is forecast, with total growth of 21 per cent in the five years from 2017 to 2021. Table showing the latest Savills 5-year forecast The lower value, more domestic outer prime London markets, where the average house price is £2 million, were less impacted by the December 2014 stamp duty increases and values rose 2.3 per cent in 2015.  However, a further 3 per cent surcharge on additional homes combined with pre-referendum uncertainty to suppress growth in the first six months of this year and contributed to reduced fluidity in the market.  Total price falls of -5.0 per cent are forecast for outer prime London in 2016, with lower total five year growth to end of 2021 of 14.6 per cent, reflecting mortgage lending constraints and greater caution around financial sector job security. “The market will inevitably remain susceptible to fluctuations in buyer sentiment, but there is nothing to suggest the impact of the vote to leave will echo that of the global financial crisis,” says Lucian Cook, Savills UK head of residential research.  “The summer market was slow but certainly not moribund, and the currency advantage brought international buyers back into the market. “We now need further small adjustments to bring buyers back to the table in greater numbers and early signs from the autumn market are that committed sellers have adjusted their prices by between 5 and 10 per cent.  The current situation is reminiscent of the 2002 to 2004 post bull run period when a less significant financial shock combined with an uncertain geopolitical backdrop.  Prices then fell a total of 10 per cent. “There will be opportunities across the prime London market for those prepared to take a medium term year view, but it will require sellers to recognise the subtleties of a market that is likely to distinguish between the very best stock in the best locations and the rest. “Looking further ahead, we know the prime London markets have generally rebounded strongly after a period of adjustment.  While the tax backdrop will continue to be factored into buying decisions, no other European city has the infrastructure to match London as world city and global financial centre and this should underpin a return to trend levels of growth.”   Source link

©Bloomberg The chairman of India’s biggest listed renewable energy company by sales has called on multilateral development institutions to support the country’s huge green power programme by offering rupee-denominated debt funding to foreign investors. Renewable energy has been a prominent part of ambitious infrastructure plans under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has committed to increasing generation capacity from such sources from 43 gigawatts to 175 gigawatts by 2022. More On this topic IN Energy The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank have been funding Indian green power initiatives for several years — responding to demands that rich countries, which have contributed the bulk of carbon emissions, help cover the costs for developing nations trying to minimise the environmental impact of their growth. But a change in approach from the institutions is needed, according to Tulsi Tanti, founder of Suzlon, a wind turbine manufacturer that returned to profit this year after six years of losses as it struggled with debt incurred to fund expansion in Europe. The multilateral institutions have focused on lending to the developers of projects but Mr Tanti urged them to back the model championed by Suzlon, which builds completed wind power projects and sells them — typically to foreign investors. These buyers, such as UK private equity firm Actis, have funded the acquisitions mostly through debt raised from Indian banks. But Mr Tanti said such investment would be boosted dramatically by longer-dated debt funding from the multilateral institutions, potentially enabling India to exceed its 2022 renewable energy target by 50GW. “They have to come full throttle — 400m people are sitting in the dark,” he said. Suzlon’s business model has come under scrutiny given its recent heavy losses, and was publicly repudiated in 2013 by its client Morgan Stanley-backed Continuum Wind Energy. Continuum said it would henceforth build its own projects, complaining that turbine makers and developers such as Suzlon focused on “stuffing as many turbines into the project as possible” instead of on overall efficiency. Pierre Van Peteghem, treasurer of the ADB, defended the institution’s approach, saying it was encouraging foreign investment in Indian renewable projects through its own partial financing of them, thereby reducing the perceived risks for other investors. Direct support for renewable energy developers in target countries was a more efficient use of limited capital than funding financial investors from elsewhere, he added. But Shalabh Tandon, who leads South Asian renewable power investments for the IFC, said Mr Tanti’s suggestion merited consideration, calling Suzlon’s model “a legitimate way of cycling capital leading to asset creation”. The IFC has invested more than $1bn in Indian renewable projects, while the ADB’s various commitments in the sector include a $500m loan last year to Power Grid Corporation of India for green power transmission. Mr Tanti said the institutions could expand this support by expanding their use of the offshore “masala bond” market in Indian rupees, which the IFC helped to pioneer, paving the way for the first issuances by Indian corporate issuers over the past month.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

20 July 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Comserve Limited, the mechanical and electrical (M&E) maintenance and installation services arm of Incentive FM Group, has won a three-year contract to provide services to Allied Irish Bank (AIB) at 22 of its sites across the UK.   This involves both office buildings and high street branches to ensure a comfortable environment for employees and customers.   Under the terms of the deal, awarded by property agent, McBains Cooper, Comserve will be responsible for all heating, air conditioning and lighting equipment across the sites, in addition to undertaking minor fabrication repair and refurbishment.   Comserve’s 70-strong mobile engineering team will provide a full planned maintenance programme including all statutory testing and inspections. Additionally, Comserve will provide a 24/7, 365 emergency call-out service with pre-agreed response times to support the demands of AIB’s stakeholders and customers.   All work will be undertaken by Comserve’s mobile multi-skilled engineers together with a small selection of specialist suppliers to deliver “high levels of efficiency and where work needs to be undertaken during working hours”. Incentive acquired Comserve in August 2015, in a move Incentive said would enable the group to bring M&E services into its established portfolio. In June this year, Incentive also acquired ACE Environmental Engineering Limited, an HVAC design, installation and maintenance company.  Source link