Tag Archives: market
Confidence Growing in the UK Housing Market?
17th July 2013 Investor Today suggests that more confidence has returned to the housing market with the Halifax Housing Market Confidence tracker revealing that the headline House Price Outlook balance (i.e. the difference between the proportion of people across Britain that expect the average house price to rise rather than fall) stood at +40 in June. This was an increase of 7 percentage points compared with last quarter (+33) and was the highest score on this measure since the tracker began in April 2011. Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “Sentiment regarding the outlook for house prices has improved markedly over the past quarter, continuing the trend seen since late 2012. This increase in optimism is partly due to house prices being stronger than expected in the first half of the year. We continue to see a clear north / south divide with significantly higher proportions of people expecting prices to rise in the south than elsewhere in the UK. Nonetheless, the market still faces substantial headwinds with, for example, house prices remaining above the historical average in relation to earnings. Such factors are likely to prevent a sharp acceleration in house prices.” Meanwhile Stephanie Butcher, European Equities Fund Manager at Invesco Perpetual tells investors not to write off Europe as an option to put their money into stating “At current levels valuations are so cheap on a cyclically adjusted basis that I believe the environment simply needs to be ‘less bad’ for Europe to be an attractive case. We could point out that Europe is chock-full of world class companies, which have international exposure, and are (thankfully) run by first-class managers not politicians, but that has been the case for a while and it hasn’t persuaded investors thus far. As investors we have one role – that is, to find under-valued assets, whatever those assets might be. Most appear to be persuaded that bonds are intrinsically over-valued. Equally, many seem persuaded that equities are, at this point, a cheap asset class. What fewer seem to accept is the fact that Europe today is the global value play, and within Europe itself, there are areas of the market which sit at generationally low valuation levels.” Finally Knight Frank’s Prime Global Rental Index states that Prime rents in key cities worldwide rose by just 0.2% in the first quarter of 2013 – The Index’s lowest rate of quarterly growth since 2009. Knight Frank’s Kate Everett-Allen said: “Prime rents are rising strongly in many emerging markets, but this growth is being overshadowed by weakening rents in some of the world’s more established financial centres such as Hong Kong, New York and London. Luxury property for rent in Dubai, Nairobi and Beijing rose by 18.3%, 13.9% and 12.3% respectively in the year to March. By comparison, Hong Kong, New York and London saw prime rents fall by 2.3%, 2.6% and 3.1% over the same period. In this second group of cities, the rental markets have suffered as relocation budgets for executives have been trimmed during a period of weaker financial sector performance.” Continue reading
Shanghai To Fine Firms For Breaching CO2 Market Rules
15 Jul 2013 10:13 Last updated: 15 Jul 2013 13:37 BEIJING, July 15 (Reuters Point Carbon) – Shanghai companies that fail to surrender enough government-issued carbon permits for each tonne of CO2 they emit under the city’s Emissions Trading Scheme face government fines of up to 100,000 RMB ($16,000) and will be forced to buy permits in the market, according to draft rules released by city lawmakers. Shanghai plans to launch an emissions market before the end of the year, capping carbon dioxide emissions from 200 companies across a broad sector of the city’s economy, including big energy users such as Bao Steel, energy companies such as PetroChina as well as China Eastern Airlines. The city is one of seven designated regions in which the central government is trialing emission markets before rolling out a federal scheme later in the decade in a bid to rein in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. The release of draft rules on Friday reveal for the first time how lawmakers intend to enforce environmental laws on companies responsible for pumping out about 110 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. “It is urgent to make clear rules on the basic issues as for carbon trading…. (the rules) will provide strong legal support and protection to carry out the pilot ETS,” the draft rules said. As well as fines for companies failing to surrender permits, companies that obstruct independent auditors in reporting emissions face penalties of up to RMB50,000 per breach. Emitters will be able to reduce the cost of complying with the scheme by offsetting up to 5 percent of their emissions by buying carbon credits, known as Chinese Certified Emission Reductions, from domestic projects that cut emissions. The rules, which were published on the local government’s website on Friday, still need to be ratified by government officials before becoming law. China, the world’s biggest emitter has been plagued by environmental problems associated with its rapid increase in coal consumption, with smog engulfing many of its cities located across the eastern seaboard. To improve energy efficiency the nation has a target to cut the emissions intensity of its economy – emissions per unit of GDP – by up to 45 percent by the end of the decade. To help it meet that goal, Shanghai plans to cut its carbon intensity by 19 percent below 2010 levels by 2015 and wants to curb 2013 energy consumption below 118.4 million tonnes of standard coal equivalent, increasing by 4.18 percent year-on-year. The city of Shenzhen was the first region in China to launch a carbon market in July, with permits changing hands at about $4.50-5.00 each, roughly the same price as those in Europe. By Kathy Chen – kathy.chen@thomsonreuters.com and Andrew Allan Continue reading
Bluefield Bets On UK Solar Potential With Market Debut Of Fund
By Christoph Steitz FRANKFURT | Tue Jun 25, 2013 (Reuters) – Asset management firm Bluefield Partners is betting that the solar industry has the potential to grow in Britain, while taking a beating elsewhere in Europe, benefiting from favourable laws and a relatively underdeveloped market. Bluefield, which specialises in buying and managing energy and infrastructure assets, plans to list the Bluefield Solar Income Fund ( IPO-BSI.L ) on the London Stock Exchange on July 12 to raise up to 150 million pounds for the acquisition of solar plants in Britain. “The UK is in its infancy compared to markets like Germany or Italy ,” James Armstrong, managing partner at Bluefield, said on Tuesday. “We’re just going into a market that has significant growth potential.” According to figures by European solar industry association EPIA, Britain’s cumulative solar installations more than doubled in 2012 to 1.83 gigawatts. This compared with 32.4 GW in Germany and 16.4 GW in Italy , where lavish incentives for solar power have led to soaring installations over the past few years. Demand in these markets is expected to drop sharply this year, however, as governments reduce the incentives and make investment in solar power less rewarding. Armstrong pointed to favourable legislation in Britain, which said in its updated renewable energy roadmap in late 2012 that its solar market had the potential for up to 20 GW by 2020. Bluefield’s fund aims to invest the proceeds from the initial public offering within 12 months to buy solar plants that it expects will provide stable annual levels of power generation with low operational costs. Armstrong said he expected the fund to grow to about 300 million to 400 million pounds in assets over the next two to three years. Bluefield has clinched deals with British power companies including British Gas Solar, the solar contracting unit of Centrica ( CNA.L ), for exclusive access to solar projects until April 2014. The Bluefield fund will finance solar projects but not build them, reducing its operational risk. Armstrong did not want to disclose plans for concrete investments after the IPO, saying only: “We have a deep and significant pipeline.” (editing by Jane Baird) Continue reading
