Retirement Planning - Property Pension Decline
Research today has revealed that pensioners who have solely been relying on a ‘property pension’ have seen £45billion wiped off their retirement savings in just 12 months.
Over 1.7million retirement planning pensioners had hoped to sell their home, buy a smaller property and use the extra cash to fund their retirement. Instead one of the only bonafide options remaining to people looking to release equity from their homes are in plans like “equity release”, where firms pay people to live in their own homes.
The report, from the price comparison website Uswitch.com, notes that as Britain’s housing market crumbles fewer options are available to people looking to live of the value of their property.
Panasonic In Talks To Buy Sanyo
November 3, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Sources close to Panasonic have leaked news that the electronics giant is set to buy rival electronics firm Sanyo.
The decision to consolidate the two Japanese firms will be welcomed by Sanyo, who was on the brink of collapse just two years ago.
Tiscali Wanted By BSkyB - Would The Next Suitor Please Stand Up
BSkyB is set to become the latest in a long line of companies attempting to purchase the internet service provider (ISP) Tiscali.
The £450m proposed deal follows in the footsteps of the Carphone Warehouse and Vodaphone who have both previously tried to strike a takeover deal with the company.
In an ironic twist, Vodafone was looking to bid £600million for Tiscali, but this deal also fell by the wayside.
UK Treasury Facing Multi-Billion Claim Over Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander
October 31, 2008 by admin · 7 Comments
The proposed claim surrounds the transferring of the assets of KSF’s UK subsidiary. Kaupthing has instructed the international law firm Grundberg Mocatta Rakison LLP to begin a preliminary inquiry and the law firm is also considering whether it can act on behalf of KSF’s (Isle of Man) depositors.
Michael Tackley and Richard Beresford, both partners at Grundberg Mocatta Rakison LLP, and leading banking counsel John Jarvis QC attended a meeting at the bank in Reykjavik earlier this month.
Broker Arm Of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Bought By Management
October 31, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Capital Markets have been bought out by its management and will now concentrate on the wealth management sector.
The new company, to be named Singer Capital Markets is a separate legal entity from ex-parent company Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (who have recently been bought out by Williams de Broe following it going into administration).
The company had already owned 67% of the company and the remaining shares have been bought through private equity of staff and management. The company will continue to work with no external funding or borrowing.
UK Shares Rise In Expectation Of Positive Congress News
October 1, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
The revised $700bn Senate bank rescue plan possibility has received mixed views across the European markets.
US senators are due to vote later today and the hopes are that enough changes have been made to get the bill passed through congress. Earlier shares closed up strongly in Asia. Sentiment in Europe was more cautious while UK stocks have risen. In Germany and France shares have fallen.
The bill needs backing by the Senate as well as the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives voted against the first version of the rescue deal on Monday which saw markets plunge - for some the greatest ever single day fall. Greater even than the market fall post 9/11
Price Of Oil Continues To Plunge
September 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
And now even UK consumers are beginning to feel some benefit. Since the highs of July, the price of oil has fallen so quickly, even the Russian stock market had to be suspended last Thursday amid the turmoil of falling prices.
In the UK, oil companies have been heavily criticised for not lowering prices after they had been so quick to raise the price when the price of oil rose to its July high.
Total Garages have become the latest petrol retailer to lower prices, a day after similar moves by BP and supermarket chains Asda and Morrisons.
Shares Surge On Wall Street
September 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Some of the leading US shares have surged upward, due in part to a report from treasury secretary Henry Paulson that the US government might announce a new plan that would help tackle the financial crisis.
Paulson announced he was looking to create a repository for bad bank debt.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a frenzied buying activity after a morning lull and saw more than 400 points added, or 3.86%, to 11,019.69, a rise of 560 points from its low of the day.
Brown Takes Action Against Short Selling
September 19, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday announced a radical move that will, in-effect, “outlaw” the age old city tradition of selling shares ’short’. The new rule will only affect selling short shares on banks and other financial institutions.
Selling short is where traders bet on the stock price to fall rather than to rise and they do this by selling something which in effect they do not “yet” own - buying the shares back at a later time. Almost as a self fulfilling prophecy, selling a lot of shares in a company forces its stock price down.
The move by Brown is an attempt to stop the credit-crunch debacle from hemorrhaging any further by adding a temporary regulatory tourniquet.
PartyGaming Experiences Slowdown in business
August 29, 2008 by James Hale · Leave a Comment
The online poker business, partygaming.com seems to be facing huge competition from websites especially those which accept players from the United States.
Chief Executive, Jim Ryan of PartyGaming, a leading UK Poker Business, said that trading had been little softer than what the company had calculated. The first half results of PartyGaming have been over shadowed by the drop in number of people playing the online poker game.
The London Stock Exchange listed company had not expected these results but now they are caught up in doldrums. Till August 25th the gross daily revenue (on average basis) was $1.6 million per day. and around 51,000 people play poker on the site every day.
