Lending for home purchases fell by 40% in April compared with the previous month but experts point out this was a blip due to an unusually high level of borrowing in March ahead of stamp duty change.Home owners borrowed £8.1 billion, down 4% compared to a year ago and took
Technology and consultancy firm Smarter Grid Solutions has announced that Jim Kent is to replace Gerry Docherty as chief executive. Smarter Grid Solutions chief executive Jim Kent Docherty has led the company since 2013 and will be moving to the position of chairman. Smarter Grid Solutions said Kent
A round up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Burberry unveils sweeping changes in the boardroom Fashion likes springing surprises, and shareholders in Burberry were in for plenty of that this week, writes Scheherazade Daneshkhu in London. The British luxury goods group thrust forward
Charitable company sentenced over severe radiator burn Published: 15 September, 2016 A company providing housing support services for vulnerable adults and children in Edinburgh has been sentenced after a service user was burnt at one of its properties. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that on 18 April 2015 a 49-year-old female
New research has found that half of consumers are more likely to hire builders who employ apprentices. A study carried out by One Poll from 2000 home owners across the UK has revealed that 50% of those asked would rather hire builders that employ apprentices. With National Apprenticeship Week starting
A new Managing Director was announced at the Water Treatment company Lubron UK. Mark Hadaway will replace Joe Austin who was founder and head of the company for more than 20 years. Hadaway joined the company in January 2016 in the role of UK Sales Manager. After graduating from the
Amid the current housing shortages, a study has begun to investigate whether High-rise buildings could fix provide enough housing to meet demand. Tim Lewis, Birmingham City University PhD researcher is looking into post-war building techniques of building multi-story public housing between the 1950s and 1970s to decide whether it is
Lending for home purchases fell by 40% in April compared with the previous month but experts point out this was a blip due to an unusually high level of borrowing in March ahead of stamp duty change.Home owners borrowed £8.1 billion, down 4% compared to a year ago and took out 47,300 loans, down 31% on March and 5% on April 2015, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. First time buyers borrowed £3.9 billion, down 11% on March but up 15% on April last year. This equated to 25,100 loans, down 9% month on month but up 7% year on year. Home movers borrowed £4.3 billion, down 53% on March and 14% compared to a year ago. This represented 22,200 loans, down 46% month on month and 15% on April 2015. Remortgage activity totalled £6 billion, up 25% on March and 40% compared to a year ago. This came to 34,800 loans, up 23% month on month and 30% compared to a year ago. Landlords borrowed £2.5 billion, down 65% month on month and 7% year on year. This came to 16,100 loans in total, down 64% compared to March and down 10% compared to April 2015. Paul Smee, director general of the CML, pointed out that it was not a surprise that lending eased back following the significant rises in activity in March as borrowers looked to beat the second home property stamp duty deadline. ‘We expect the market to take several months to return to its previous levels after the lending surge,’ he added. According to Andy Knee, chief executive of LMS, remortgaging is driving growth in the home loan market. He pointed out that not only were the number of remortgage loans up by almost a third from the year before but it was the greatest number of people remortgaging since July 2009. ‘It’s great to see home owners taking advantage of the favourable environment for remortgaging. Record low interest rates have improved affordability and home owners are sitting on huge amounts of housing equity that they may have been wary of capitalising on previously. The Government is also consulting on seven day switching for faster transactions, the ease of which could drive the incentive for borrowers to revisit their mortgage faster,’ he pointed out. He also pointed out that with prices continuing to rise first time buyers still remain disadvantaged. ‘There are signs of encouragement in the first time buyer market, such as a greater range of high loan-to-value products, but we’ll have to wait patiently for the year to unfold to be able to gauge the impact of this on the market,’ he added. However, Patrick Bamford, business development director for AmTrust Mortgage Insurance, believes that continued low interest rates and a plethora of products mean mortgages are getting cheaper for first time buyers who are spending less of their income servicing their debt. He explained that there was further good news for first time buyers as the number able to enter the property market rose by 7% year on year to 25,100. The average loan to value (LTV) for first time buyers, however, has increased slightly to 85% and this leaves many hopeful buyers having to save huge deposits, often the greatest hurdle to buying a home. He also believes that lending at 95% LTV falling from 3% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 2.5% in the first quarter of 2016 is a worrying trend for any but the wealthiest or those who can rely on parental support when raising the deposit for their first home. ‘Government intervention in the form of Help to Buy 2 proved instrumental in reinvigorating lending for those with a 5% deposit and proved that mortgage insurance is an effective tool in supporting first time buyers while mitigating risk to the lenders,’ he said. ‘When this ends later this year, our concern is that lending to first time buyers with small deposits will fall back into steep decline. The lending industry will therefore need to find a solution, such as private mortgage insurance, to sustain high LTV lending and ensure those with smaller deposits are not disenfranchised from entering the property market,’ he concluded. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?) Source link
Technology and consultancy firm Smarter Grid Solutions has announced that Jim Kent is to replace Gerry Docherty as chief executive. Smarter Grid Solutions chief executive Jim Kent Docherty has led the company since 2013 and will be moving to the position of chairman. Smarter Grid Solutions said Kent brings significant experience in the technology sector to the role from his time as chief executive at both Datapoint and Vistorm, following a long executive-level career with HP and Compaq. The company has primarily been operating in the UK market but has also recently entered the US market. Docherty said Kent’s experience of building businesses will be invaluable expanding its US operations, adding: “Jim is a very talented and respected figure. His focus on growth and long-term value creation makes him the ideal chief executive for the next phase of our journey.” Smarter Grid Solutions provides technology products that allow electricity networks to be managed more effectively by major utilities, through active network management, and enable the transition to smarter grids. Source link
A round up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Burberry unveils sweeping changes in the boardroom Fashion likes springing surprises, and shareholders in Burberry were in for plenty of that this week, writes Scheherazade Daneshkhu in London. The British luxury goods group thrust forward a new boardroom look that was almost as bold as this year’s kaleidoscope of colours and materials. After only two years in the job, Christopher Bailey is to give up his role as chief executive in favour of an outsider, Marco Gobbetti, head of Céline, the fashion house that is part of LVMH of France. Mr Bailey will take on the new role of president and retain his longstanding remit as chief designer. Two years into her job as finance director, Carol Fairweather will be stepping down in favour of Julie Brown, her counterpart at Smith & Nephew, the medical devices company. Ms Brown will also take on the mantle of chief operating officer after John Smith — who has also been in post for two years — said last month he would be leaving Burberry. The boardroom sweep comes after months of financial underperformance and unrest from investors, who took aim at Mr Bailey’s dual role. In May the Financial Times reported that Burberry was considering appointing a senior manager to support Mr Bailey. The end result was more radical and, while the changes were applauded initially with a share price rise of 6 per cent, there remains the question of who is in charge. “We are both the boss,” Mr Bailey said, emphasising that he would remain involved in business decisions as an “equal partner” with Mr Gobbetti. This week Burberry reported falling like-for-like sales in all markets and cut its outlook for wholesale revenues in a first-quarter trading update, highlighting the challenges facing Mr Gobbetti. Comparable sales had declined 3 per cent in the three months to June 30, with underlying revenues flat at £423m. ● Related profile: Burberry’s Sir John Peace battles storms ● Related Lex note: Burberry, when it rains Talent agency WME-IMG joins ultimate ‘cockfight’ Private equity dealmaking joined judo and Brazilian ju-jitsu as one of the mixed martial arts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship this week when WME-IMG, the talent agency, said it would pay $4bn to buy the league. Its aim would be to turn its ferocious bouts into the next big global sport, writes Joseph Cotterill in London. ©AP Brock Lesnar, top, fights Mark Hunt during their heavyweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas Buyout groups Silver Lake and KKR backed the acquisition — which is one of the biggest sports deals ever — and will take minority stakes, illustrating how far UFC has come as a business in the two decades since US Senator John McCain declared the sport was “human cockfighting”. UFC says that it runs the biggest pay-per-view sporting events, reaching more than 1.1bn households globally. One of its biggest sources of income in recent years has been a seven-year, $830m deal with Fox television to broadcast bouts, which it signed in 2011. The WME-IMG deal’s punchy valuation — revenues last year were $600m — attests to the value being given to digital distribution of events in sports deals. UFC runs its own subscription service. As UFC has grown, so has controversy about how much it pays novice fighters to risk injury in its fights and its demands on them to wear only approved sponsor gear, such as Reebok. As a Silver Lake investment and the product of a 2014 merger of two agencies, WME-IMG is itself the creation of private equity and has increasingly turned to sports deals, buying the Professional Bull Riders league last year. New US shale revealed as lowest-cost oil prospect The oil price slump that began two years ago has been described as a way to drive higher-cost production out of the market, writes Ed Crooks in New York. ©Getty That higher-cost output has often been assumed to be North American shale oil, and US crude production has indeed been falling since April 2015. This week, however, the energy research company Wood Mackenzie published an analysis that challenged that assumption. Lifting costs from existing wells may indeed be higher in the US than in parts of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. When production from new projects is considered, however, the picture changes. US shale oil accounts for about 60 per cent of the new oil production worldwide that would be economically viable at a Brent crude price of $60 per barrel, says Wood Mackenzie. New wells in the “Scoop” and “Stack” formations of Oklahoma, and the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp sections of the Permian Basin in West Texas, can break even with Brent at about $35 to $39 per barrel. With Brent now holding steady at a little under $50 — it was about $47 on Friday — it is no surprise that oil drilling activity in US shale has started to pick up in recent weeks. For companies that specialise in the types of project up at the top end of the cost curve, including offshore fields in the North Sea and off the west coast of Africa, the analysis is chastening. The costs of new projects will need to be cut significantly if they are to compete. ● Related Commodities Note: No rush back to big oil projects ● Commodities Note: Is cheap oil really good for the global economy? Airbus and Boeing vie for orders at Farnborough The aerobatics at this week’s Farnborough air show were impressive, even if the volume of passenger jet orders was not, writes Peggy Hollinger in Farnborough. ©PA An Airbus A350 long-haul jet landing at the Farnborough air show From the surreal aerial hover by Britain’s newest stealth aircraft, the F-35, to the gravity defying steep climbs of Boeing and Airbus passenger jets, there was enough to excite most of those who trekked
Charitable company sentenced over severe radiator burn Published: 15 September, 2016 A company providing housing support services for vulnerable adults and children in Edinburgh has been sentenced after a service user was burnt at one of its properties. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that on 18 April 2015 a 49-year-old female with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and severe learning disabilities was assisted to a shower room by a support worker, when she was burnt by a radiator lacking an individual thermostatic control. The support worker showered the service user and began drying her while she was sitting on a chair, before helping her to step out of the shower area and take hold of a grab rail, which was positioned above the radiator. While standing over the radiator her leg came into contact with the radiator. As the service user is non-verbal and has difficulty balancing she was unable to move her leg away from the radiator or alert the support worker. It is unknown exactly how long her leg was against the radiator. When the support worker noticed the burn on the left side of the injured woman’s left calf, she alerted the assistant team manager and the woman was taken to a specialist burns’ unit in Livingston for treatment on the burn, which extended 20 centimetres up her calf. At a follow up appointment it was noted that the burn was not healing properly and a skin graft was taken from her thigh and applied to her calf. As a result the victim has been left with permanent scarring. During the course of the investigation it came to light that The Action Group had been alerted to the risk posed by the radiator. In November 2011 a routine inspection was carried out by Edinburgh City Council Environmental Health team. The written report required the radiator to be covered and a follow up email in 2012 asked whether the radiator in the bathroom had been provided with a suitable cover to protect clients from scalding. However, the company’s internal systems failed to ensure remedial action was taken and The Action Group also failed to carry out any general internal risk assessment regarding the danger posed by the radiator in question. The Action Group, registered office at 57 Albion Road, Edinburgh pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £8000, reduced from £12,000 for an early guilty plea. HSE inspector Hazel Dobb said: “It was foreseeable that an unprotected, hot radiator could pose a risk to vulnerable individuals with reduced mobility and to those who could not react appropriately or quickly enough to prevent injury. “There are several published sources of guidance on preventing burns and scalds which are available to download from the HSE website and we urge all duty holders to visit the resource to help avoid such incidents in the future.” Source link
New research has found that half of consumers are more likely to hire builders who employ apprentices. A study carried out by One Poll from 2000 home owners across the UK has revealed that 50% of those asked would rather hire builders that employ apprentices. With National Apprenticeship Week starting today, the results suggest the public support of apprenticeships. The survey also uncovered that two thirds of those home owners asked look more favorably on building firms that are known to offer apprenticeships. With half of those asked saying that they would be more likely to hire companies that train apprentices if that was a deciding factor. The research also found that more than two in five of those home owners asked would recommend a company that offered apprenticeships to friends and family members. Also, the study found that two thirds of the people involved in the study believed that companies should expressly highlight that the train apprentices and encourage the next generation of the trade industry in their marketing material. In a competitive industry, building companies are all looking for an edge over their competitors. Therefore, the results of this study reinforces that apprentices are good for business in allowing them to gain an advantage over those in their field. Companies who hire and train the next generation in the building sectors presents the companies in a strongly positive light to home owners looking for stronger core values of a company. The Government is about to implement a new Apprenticeship Levy on larger firms. It is hoped that this action will encourage larger companies to take on more apprentices; especially since this study has revealed that including apprentices amongst the staff is commercially viable for companies, leading to more contracts as well as training future tradespeople. Currently more apprentices are hired by small and medium size companies rather than larger firms.
A new Managing Director was announced at the Water Treatment company Lubron UK. Mark Hadaway will replace Joe Austin who was founder and head of the company for more than 20 years. Hadaway joined the company in January 2016 in the role of UK Sales Manager. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Mark Hadaway has gained industry experience from time working at a variety of different companies inculding Veolia Water, BAC Balticare and Clearwater Technology. Joe Austin was the original founder of the water technology company Aquaflow Systems, which he ran from his garden shed in Colchester. Several years later a European company offered to purchase the company and a short time later Lubron UK was born as part of the larger Lubron Europe name. Although being a large European company spread across four culturally different countries the people at Lubron aim to provide the best service. The new rebranding and solid ethos of the company has brought the companies from the different countries closer together. As one of the Market Leaders, Lubron claims to mix scientists, engineers and administrators in order to provide the best service for their customers. Lubron Europe was founded in 1978 and was managed by Luc Braams. The company now works in The UK, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. The turnover of company on a whole is €14 million. The current CEO of Lubron Europe is Rob Braams, who became a part of the company his father created in the 1980s and focuses of high standards of customer service and sustaining customer relations. Although Joe Austin has no intention of completely retiring just yet, Mark Hadaway will take the lead and management side of the company. Austin intends on stepping back from the management side of the company and focusing more on the chemistry.
Amid the current housing shortages, a study has begun to investigate whether High-rise buildings could fix provide enough housing to meet demand. Tim Lewis, Birmingham City University PhD researcher is looking into post-war building techniques of building multi-story public housing between the 1950s and 1970s to decide whether it is a viable option for today’s growing shortages. These post war properties still play a role in housing today. Lewis will focus his research on Birmingham and London, seeing if the original reasons for these structures can be applied to modern day values. Solely in Birmingham, more than 400 post-war High-rise buildings were constructed over the course of 20 years. Since then around half of that number have been demolished. Lewis’ project is set to look at architect-led mixed developments, as well as high-rises. These mixed developments were made up of lo and high-rise flats as well as maisonnettes with the purpose of creating communities. Later developments which led to higher Urban developments will also be looked at in order to evaluate the reasons, ideals and viewpoints for a high-rise developments and how that can shape the future actions taken to fight against housing shortages. High-rise properties have divided opinion since their conception and creation as the could be representative of a welfare state or social housing. This method of building is worth considering for future builds due to the space economy that will be required to meet the growing demand for housing. It will also be worth considering redeveloping established high-rises in an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of demolishing the old structures and starting again. With Birmingham already saying farewell to iconic Twentieth Century buildings such as Madin’s Central Library and Smallbrook Queensway development, Birmingham’s heritage is already being reassessed and views in conserving, or possibly regenerating high-rise buildings could be involved in ideas around which parts of Birmingham’s heritage should be preserved.
