Interest rates held at record low after one year at 0.5%

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee left interest rates on hold at their record low of 0.5% today, as news of a fresh decline in house prices underlined the fragility of economic recovery.

Halifax said house prices fell by 1.5% in February, adding to fears that the rally in the property market has run out of steam, after the MPC decided to wait for more evidence that the economy is improving before reversing its recession-busting policies.

Interest rates were slashed to 0.5% last March, at the same time as the Bank announced that it would implement the radical policy of quantitative easing. By the end of last year, it had injected £200bn into the economy.

Today's decision, to leave rates at 0.5% and extend the "pause" in QE, was widely expected by financial markets.

"With considerable uncertainty still surrounding the economic outlook, the BoE is likely to remain in 'wait and see' mode for some time yet, in order to gauge the strength of the recovery and the risks to inflation over the medium term," said Colin Ellis, of Daiwa Capital Markets.

Posted at 08:14PM Mar 04, 2010 by Kelly Board in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

12 Prospects For Pompey

Andrew Andronikou, Administrator of Portsmouth FC has expressed that a dozen parties have shown interest in a possible takeover of the club, although he has refused to put any sort of timescale on when he hopes a deal will go through.

The club were officially placed in Administration last week following a dramatic financial downfall which saw the club go from FA Cup winners to the brink of liquidation in the space of 18 months.  4 different owners have taken charge of the club in the last 6 months.

Andronikou wants to assess the ‘quality of interest’ in each prospective buyer before beginning any negotiations as to the sale of the club.

He said, “We have received about a dozen expressions of interest, we need to sit down first and look at funding.”

Andronikou also stated that he has received ‘proof of funds’ from two interested party, however he has knocked them back asking for further ‘transparent proof’ in order to clarify that the ownership is being passed on properly.

"There is no timescale," he added. "We are not rushing. We want to do it properly.

"We need a measured approach.

"It's about putting the club in the hands of someone who is going to look after it and make sure it's in a good position in three, six, nine months' time."

One of the parties is likely to be New Zealand businessman Victor Cattermole, who has been reported to be interested since before the club entered Administration, whilst the other is thought to be the Intermarket Group, who almost bought West Ham in January before Davids’ Gold and Sullivan completed their takeover at the East London Outfit.

Andronikou has also stated that the impending court case, investigating his appointment will not hinder his plans in finding a buyer.  He did appear at court on Tuesday, when the hearing was adjourned for two weeks after HMRC questioned his independence in the matter believing he may have previous links to owner Balram Chainrai.

Furthermore, he is scheduled to meet the Premier League this afternoon after a previous meeting was postponed because of the court case.  Andronikou is said to be maintaining hope that the clubs 9 point penalty for entering Administration will be waived by the Premier League.

Meanwhile, the Premier League have said that they are waiting until the outcome of the second hearing before making a decision on the penalty.

Posted at 04:07PM Mar 04, 2010 by Marc Stenton in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]