Good morning. Polish those boots and slap on a smile, it’s Friday.
The campaigns for the December 12 election have really picked up speed, as both the Tories and Labour attempt to woo voters by giving the magic money tree another shake.
Labour has found another industry to nationalise(£), with plans to buy BT Openreach(£) and give every home and business free broadband.
The Conservatives seem to have finally listened to retailers and are proposing a 50% discount on business rates(£). They appear to have also listened to my dad, as they unveil a fund to help communities buy the village pub and plans to reverse at least some of Dr Beeching’s railway closures(£).
Alas, they have only pledged £500m for new railways, just fractionally more than the £400m the taxpayer had to give to the rail companies(£) last year to stop them going bust.
Meanwhile, council leaders in the North of England would rather the money was spent on fixing the 1,800 properties wrecked by flood-damage.
Barnet council has changed the timetable for the £4.5bn regeneration of Brent Cross, allowing Argent Related to crack on with its housing development while Hammerson and co worry about their retail plans.
The news that retail sales unexpectedly fell(£) last month will do nothing to help matters. The surprise downturn of 0.1% is a further hit for retailers, who had been expecting a 0.2% boost(£).
Burberry is doing alright, though. Its profits are up by 5%(£), despite having to take a £14m writedown(£) due to the Hong Kong riots.
WeWork’s numbers are less shiny. Bondholders for the battered firm have been told that losses in Q3 were $1.25bn(£). Ouch.
The good news is that housing supply in England is up(£). Not just up – at its highest level for 30 years! The bad news is that this is still 60,000 homes shy of the government’s 300,000 home target.
And that isn’t going to be helped by changes to Help to Buy, says Redrow’s John Tutte(£).
Over in the States, Ocado has doused fears that it had mothballed its plans to build 20 robotic warehouses with US grocer Kroger, by announcing a sixth in the charmingly named Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin(£).
In Paris a tussle has turned ugly over how best to replace the spire of the fire-damaged Notre Dame cathedral(£). “Don’t change a thing,” says architect. “Go shut yer gob,” says project manager. So, much the same as any other project, then.
And in Berlin plans for a museum of modern art could be killed off. Not because the “beer tent” design makes it look like “an Aldi”, but because at €450m it will cost more than twice the estimate. So, much the same…
And finally, as retirement beckons for CBRE’s Stephen Hubbard, he shares some wise words given to him by Gerald Ronson… “Don’t f*ck it up.”
