27Jul
From This is Money:
If he fails to pay up they are threatening to pursue the husband of TV presenter Anthea Turner for bankruptcy.
Mr Bovey is also being chased by accountants over a luxury clay-pigeon shotgun bought by his company for his use at charity shoots.
Imagine Homes, once billed as Britain’s biggest buy-to-let property empire, went into administration last year with debts of £50m. These are business debts for which Mr Bovey is not personally liable.
Administrators from accountancy firm Deloitte are now going through its books to find out what assets remain.
But Stuart McIntyre, the former finance director of Imagine Homes, has claimed that Mr Bovey has kept personal items purchased for him by the company, and some company assets.
It is understood that the items include the shotgun and a £150,000 overpayment of rental income made to Mr Bovey from company properties.
If Deloitte does not resolve the matter, it will consider filing for bankruptcy against Mr Bovey – the seco…
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27Jul
From This is Money:
If he fails to pay up they are threatening to pursue the husband of TV presenter Anthea Turner for bankruptcy.
Mr Bovey is also being chased by accountants over a luxury clay-pigeon shotgun bought by his company for his use at charity shoots.
Imagine Homes, once billed as Britain’s biggest buy-to-let property empire, went into administration last year with debts of £50m. These are business debts for which Mr Bovey is not personally liable.
Administrators from accountancy firm Deloitte are now going through its books to find out what assets remain.
But Stuart McIntyre, the former finance director of Imagine Homes, has claimed that Mr Bovey has kept personal items purchased for him by the company, and some company assets.
It is understood that the items include the shotgun and a £150,000 overpayment of rental income made to Mr Bovey from company properties.
If Deloitte does not resolve the matter, it will consider filing for bankruptcy against Mr Bovey – the seco…
Click to read the full article »
27Jul
From The BBC:
The British Bankers Association has defended the rise in the cost of borrowing – despite the base rate remaining at a record low.Financial website Moneyfacts claimed mortgage profits had increased nearly fourfold in recent months, with typical fixed-rate deals also going up. But banks are facing “substantially” higher costs, the association’s chief executive, Angela Knight, insisted. And they had been “instructed” to put far more money in reserve, she said. In the UK, banks were “holding twice the amount of the worldwide average”, Ms Knight added. “You can’t hold it and lend it at the same time.” ‘Far less’ cashMoneyfacts described lenders’ potential profit margins as being the largest it had seen since it began keeping records in 1988. For a bank, the margin is the difference between the cost of borrowing money and the amount it charges people to have a mortgage.
“Typically we would have seen a 0.8% margin on top of their product,” said Michelle Slade from the website. “Now we are se…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
Traditional high streets could be put at risk from out-of-town shopping areas unless proposed changes to planning rules are scrapped, MPs have said.Ministers want to replace the “need test”, which aims to prevent excessive retail park or supermarket development. However, the communities select committee wants it retained to prevent town centres being damaged. Communities Minister John Healey said the changes meant “greater safeguards for the high street, not less”. The Association of Convenience Stores has welcomed the MPs’ report. ‘Undesirable effects’The need test was created in response to complaints that smaller shops were being damaged by chains developing larger stores. It forced planning committees to address whether the local community needed the proposed superstore. However, a 2005 review of planning regulations found the test was having “undesirable effects”, such as restricting competition and consumer choice. The government announced plans to scrap it two years later. It wa…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
Defence ministers from seven European nations have pledged to continue to support the much delayed Airbus A400M military transport aircraft project.The ministers from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK now hope to agree a new contract for the plane by the end of the year. There had been fears that some countries would decide to walk away from the troubled project. The A400M’s maiden flight is a year late due to technical and budget woes. A second deadline of March this year was also missed. The plane is not now due to take to the skies until the end of this year. ‘Good news’”We hope to save the programme. We have decided to open a renegotiation,” said the UK’s Defence Procurement Minister Quentin Davies.
The A400M project was launched in 2003, with orders for 180 planes so far. The plane was designed as a replacement for the main Nato military transport aircraft, the US-built Lockheed Martin Hercules. “I am convinced this programme will be re-launched, whic…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
The UK economy contracted 0.8% between April and June, more than double the figure economists had expected.While an improvement on the previous quarter, the figures may indicate that the recovery could take longer than previously had been thought. The contraction was much less than the 2.4% seen in the first quarter but was still above analysts’ 0.3% prediction. The latest figures take the annual rate of decline to 5.6%, the biggest fall since records began in 1955. Liam Byrne, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that he was cautious but confident that growth was going to return at the end of the year. “We are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, but what today’s figures show is that the pace of the downturn is easing,” he said. The BBC’s economic editor Stephanie Flanders was less upbeat. “Anyone who was worried about the momentum of the recovery before will be that much more concerned now,” she observed. “Not least, because the recovery has yet to actually show i…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
The International Monetary Fund has approved a $2.6bn (£1.6bn) loan to help Sri Lanka weather the global economic crisis and rebuild war-torn regions.The first $322m tranche of the 20-month loan is available immediately, with the rest subject to quarterly reviews. Britain and the US abstained from the vote, citing humanitarian concerns during the government’s recent fighting against Tamil Tiger rebels. Colombo says the money will be used to start the country’s “healing process”. Sri Lanka’s Enterprise Minister, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, said the money would pay for post-war reconstruction work in the north and east of the island – areas previously controlled by the rebels. “We have completely destroyed one of the worst terrorist outfits in the world and it is time to start the reconciling and healing process in our country,” Mr Yapa told Reuters news agency on Friday. Humanitarian concernsThe loan comes two months after the government crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, ending Sri La…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
Microsoft has made a new proposal to European competition regulators that it hopes will end their row over the firm’s Internet Explorer web browser.It proposes that European buyers of its new Windows 7 operating system will be offered a list of potential browsers when they first install the software. The move comes a month after Microsoft said European buyers of Windows 7 would have to download a web browser. Brussels ruled in January that pre-bundling Explorer hurt competition.
Microsoft said its proposal meant that users would be able to “easily install competing web browsers, set one of those browsers as a default, and disable Internet Explorer” from a “ballot screen” of alternative browsers. “We believe that if ultimately accepted, this proposal will fully address the European competition law issues relating to the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows,” said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith. ‘Investigate’”The Commission welcomes this proposal, and will now investigate its…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
Interest rates on savings accounts aimed at football club supporters are much lower than last season, analysis has found.Clubs receive a payment each year from building societies which run “affinity” savings accounts aimed at their fans. But the average interest rate paid to savers with accounts has dropped from 2.47% at the start of last season to 0.19% now, according to Moneynet.co.uk. But the proportion given to clubs has remained relatively steady. Financial supportClubs promote soccer saver accounts to their fans, with many offering incentives such as tickets or club shop discounts to anyone who deposits a certain amount of money.
“Affinity accounts won’t provide savers with a best buy return on their money, but many supporters are happy to sacrifice a higher rate of interest in return for being able to do their bit for their team,” said Andrew Hagger, of Moneynet. He said the accounts had followed the general trend of falling interest rates, with the biggest drops seen on return…
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27Jul
From The BBC:
Savers will be compensated faster for lost savings if a bank, building society or credit union goes bust, the City watchdog has announced.The Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects up to £50,000 per saver per institution if a bank goes under. Now the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced that from 2011, compensation will be paid within 20 days, or preferably within a week. The banking crisis prompted many savers to spread their funds for safety. Since queues formed outside Northern Rock branches in 2007, the rules about deposit protection have come under scrutiny.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) charges a compulsory levy on the UK’s financial services industry that would cover compensation for savers if a UK bank were to go bust. Tough testThe compensation scheme has been tested following the collapse of high-profile banks such as Icesave.
At present, payouts for savers with failed banks can take up to six weeks. The new rules would mean th…
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