Property market looking increasingly stable

June 9th, 2009 by admin | Filed under Daily News, Recession, Stocks and shares.

money info That air of cautious optimism that the UK can’t seem to shake off despite all that is going on around them seems to be continuing. Recent reports have a “significant increase” in interest from potential home buyers. This news comes coupled with the report that the number of people who have sold their property over the last month, despite being on the decrease, have indicated that asking prices are becoming much firmer, and the number of blatant bargain hunters are growing thin.

Just to show that some things never change is the report that four City investment banks have charged the Treasury a small fortune in consultation fees on how to survive the current financial turmoil, largely caused by the banks themselves. The UK Financial Investments (UKFI) paid out no less than £9 million on such fees as well as an £1.2 million of taxpayers’ hard earned money on salaries during the first five months that the body was in operation.

Leading British manufacturer and provider of IT solutions Viglen, owned by city businessman, Sir Alan Sugar, has been awarded a prestigious contract worth up to £30 million by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to supply a range of computer equipment to the public sector, beating of a string of overseas suppliers in the process.
The contract, to be carried out over the next 24 months, calls for Viglen to supply around 70,000 computer to over 45 central and local government councils, as well as NHS and local education authorities.

The contract was awarded after Viglen successfully completed a tender process, in the form of a unique and innovative reverse online auction, set up in accordance with EU directives by the Buying Solutions Company on behalf of the OGC. The aim of the auction was to achieve a clear picture of the needs of the OGC member bodies over the next two years, and to take advantage of the body’s considerable buying power to get the best possible deal. Officials of the parties involved in organizing the auction estimate that savings of £10 million will be generated by closing a centralised deal.

Mr. Andrew Hornby, who gained fame and a certain amount of notoriety in his former role as chief executive of banking grout HBOS, has been appointed chief executive of private-equity owned retail and drugs distribution Alliance Boots. Hornby will be leaving the world of seven figure salaries behind in his new job, with reports that his annual salary will be a mere £400,000, rising to about £800,000, should he be eligible to receive an annual profit related bonus. It ain’t no “goose that laid a golden egg” but at least it’s a job.
Things were quiet yesterday on the Stock Exchange. Shares in the Lloyd’s insurance underwriter, Chaucer rose by 6.4 per cent to close on 41½p on talk that Brit Insurance had secured financing for a 55p- a-share cash-and-stock offer. On the news, Brit insurance shares also rose by up 0.9 per cent to 191pence. Last month, Chaucer confirmed it was in talks with a number of bidders, among them Pamplona Capital Management, who reportedly would like to acquire a 28.9 percent stake in the company.
The FTSE 100 dropped 33.4 points to close on 4,405.56 while the FTSE 250 finished the day on 7,687.86

With the current political uncertainty surrounding Gordon Brown playing no little part, the pound’s revival drew to a minor halt yesterday.

Pound/US dollar 1.602
Pound/Euro 1.1544
Pound/Japanese Yen 157.4731
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7539

In the United States, it was reported that the ten leading banks ordered by regulators to raise extra funds have begun to initiate sufficient plans that will enable them to strengthen their finances. According to the Federal Reserve who subjected the banks to these stress tests in May they are duty bound to ensure the programmes are implemented effectively. In addition, the US treasury department is also expected to announce in the coming days which of the US banks will be able to repay bail-out funds.
On the news the Dow Jones remained constant up only 1.36 points to 8764.49, while the NASDAQ dropped 7.02 points to close on 1842.4

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has granted a request by interested parties to delay the sale of carmaker Chrysler to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat in order that they can pursue an appeal.

Chrysler entered bankruptcy protection in April following a massive slump in sales brought on by the financial crisis.
On the commodities stage, aluminum rose to its highest level for five months on Monday, despite the fact that recent data by the London Metals Exchange shows record stockpiles of the metal sitting in warehouses. Aluminium’s price has jumped 10 per cent in the past two weeks on expectations of a long overdue recovery in global demand.