Strategy and Management Consultants

SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURS AND S.m.e.'s

Strategy and Management Consultants

SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURS AND S.m.e.'s

Month: January 2023

Investment

EU in discussion to loosen state aid rules:

The EU is planning to loosen state aid rules to boost renewables investment. The EU is aiming to get on par with the US green subsidy race. European policymakers have been under pressure to respond to the US president Joe Biden’s $369bn (£298bn) Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to encourage renewables investment in everything from electric cars to wind turbines. BP released a statement lobal carbon emissions were expected to fall quicker than it had previously expected as a result of the war in Ukraine and Biden’s efforts to encourage green investment. ________________

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Property Consulting

Many offshore companies with UK property are not stating real owners:

Many properties owned by offshore companies are in secretive trusts and are still not declaring their owners, however, the deadline as set by Companies House is this Tuesday. Over 2,400 companies have no public information on the register about who is behind them. Holding properties through offshore companies is legal and some individuals may have genuine and legitimate privacy or security concerns or business reasons for using them. Experts say it can be done to minimise an individual’s tax liability as the owner or buyer of a property or, until now, to allow a property t

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Property Consulting

UK property funds are curbed on the withdrawals!

The withdrawal requests from some UK property fund investors are being delayed due to 'market conditions'. Now, it has been understood that the total price of facing curbs is a whopping £15 billion. Open-ended real estate funds in Britain have been battling to meet a surge in demand for redemptions against a backdrop of high inflation and economic uncertainty, as valuations come under pressure from rising interest rates. Investors who put in requests to withdraw money from the 1.7 billion pound CBRE Property Authorised Investment Fund in the third quarter will receive "aro

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Investment

Shell expected to lose $2bn after windfall taxes announced

As a result of the UK and EU windfall taxes, for the last quarter, there will be a hit of approximately 2 billion USD on earnings. This comes after the firm disclosed that it had not paid any UK windfall taxes because of their investments in the North Sea in October. The windfall levies are designed to capture excess earnings raked in as a result of high commodity prices, linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russ Mould, an investment director at AJ Bell, said: “It would be disingenuous for Shell to gripe too much about these new levies given recently departed Ben van Be

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Investment

UK businesses cut investment, as the interest rate rises

Senior Executives from the Bank of England suggest that the higher interest rates are denting capital spending, however, are expecting a slight increase in wages. Business leader have commented that as there was an increase in interest their investing has decreased by 8%. Despite this, a 0.5% wage growth is predicted. This is hinting to the BoE having to now tighten their monetary policy in 2023. Moreover, inflation expectations within businesses were unchanged. Post Pandemic the UK economy entered into a recession which resulted in higher interest rates and higher energy

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Property Consulting

Will mortgage costs go down in the UK?

The housing prices having fallen fourth month in a row suggests falling mortgage rates. There is also and increase in competition for providing the best rate since the cost of living, was declared a crisis. The rates are expected to hit approximately 4% in March. Currently, the average two-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.78 per cent, while the average five per cent is slightly lower at 5.61 per cent, according to the personal finance data firm Moneyfacts. Rates have decreased by 0.21 per cent since the same time last month. If it does not fall as quickly as expected then the

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Property Consulting

BlackRock extends block on UK property fund redemptions

The fund manager, BlackRock has further delayed the redemptions on it UK property fund standing at £3.5bn as it is concerned about the difficult market conditions. It is a way of rebalancing its portfolio and freeing up cash for investors in the firm. Other fund managers, have all restricted withdrawals from UK property funds in the recent months. Due to rising interest rates, many benefit schemes have improved their funding positions and therefore are looking to offload properties, as they are high risk assets. The BlackRock fund has been running since 1982, their perform

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Investment

UK has upped the investment in order to become the ‘science superpower’

Taking the company Wild Bioscience, formed by Ross Hendron which works on projects at the intersection between molecular and computational biology. He explains : "Farmer's are are the forefront of climate change and we're giving them the tools to sustainably feed the planet population." This is one of the hundred of life sciences and biotech companies. George Freeman, expresses his mission to shift UK as being the academic powerhouse to a science superpower. The decision by the government to scale back its research and development tax credit scheme in the last budget was

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Investment

What are the two best investment trusts for 2023?

Stocks like Regional REIT are great investments to own during economic downturns. Their dependable rental incomes can allow them to provide better dividends than those offered by the broader market. However, the prospects of long-term dividend growth here as the UK economy struggles. Post-Brexit troubles and major structural issues (like low business investment and weak productivity) are huge threats over the next decade. Secondly, stocks such as  abrdn European Logistics Income  is focused on logistics and warehouse assets on the continent. In total, it owns 27 assets acr

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Property Consulting

UK house prices fall for the fourth month in a row!

Average house prices have gone down in the longest run since 2008. The average house prices are approximately £262,068, the house price growth has also been the lowest since the middle of 2020 during the pandemic. House price growth slowed in all UK regions, particularly in south-west England, where the annual rate fell from 12.5% to 4.3% in the last quarter, while in Wales annual growth slowed from 12.1% to 4.5%. England overall recorded a rate of 4.8%, down from 9.9%, with London the weakest performing English region, as annual growth eased to 4.1% from 6.7% in the third

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