A Bellway sign is seen at a housing construction site in London, Britain, February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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Aug 9 (Reuters) – Homebuilder Bellway on Tuesday lowered its outlook on average selling price for the next year, and reported a rise in housing revenue in 2022 as it benefited from strong house prices.
The Newcastle-based company now expects average selling price to be over 300,000 pounds ($362,550.00) in the year ending July 2023, compared with 314,400 pounds in 2022.
British house prices rose at a slower pace in July from June, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed last month, in fresh signs of a potential cooling in the market. read more
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The country’s housing sector is also struggling with a surge in build costs, labour shortages, and supply chain snags. Last month, bigger rivals Barratt and Persimmon flagged pressure on completions. read more
Bellway, founded in 1946, saw a 10.5% growth in housing completions to 11,198 homes, above its target of 11,100 homes.
Housing revenue for the year ended in July 2022 rose to more than 3.5 billion pounds ($4.23 billion), compared with 3.1 billion pounds a year ago.
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Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V
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Formula One F1 – Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary – July 30, 2022 Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in action leaves a trail of spray due to rain during practice REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
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LONDON/HONG KONG, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Hong Kong-based billionaire Calvin Lo is considering putting more money into Formula One following his connection with F1 team Williams, Lo told Reuters in an interview, adding other Asian investors were also interested in investing in the sport.
Lo, chief executive of insurance broker RE Lee International, confirmed he has “some sort of exposure” to Williams, following the U.S.-based private investment firm Dorilton Capital’s purchase of the team in 2020. He declined to give more detail, citing non-disclosure agreements.
Dorilton Capital makes investments for Lo, according to media reports.
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“A lot of people, me included, are still looking to other teams, other opportunities, because…there are consistently good teams but they are not able to come up with the right car,” Lo said.
“In Asia right now, there is a lot of liquidity sitting around, it’s mind-blowing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next news you hear…is maybe some consortium in Asia investing into some other teams.”
Lo did not name the teams attracting investor interest.
Formula One currently has 10 teams, with any new entrant that is accepted having to pay a $200 million fee to be divided among the existing teams.
Existing teams include Ferrari-powered Haas, whose title sponsor was Belarus-born chemicals billionaire Dmitry Mazepin until he was sanctioned by the European Union in March, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Haas declined to comment on investment discussions.
Williams has suffered financially as a Formula One car constructor, because unlike manufacturer-owned rivals, there is no road car business behind it, Lo said.
Williams posted a loss in 2019, the last year before its sale.
PANDEMIC INSURANCE BOOST
RE Lee operates in Hong Kong and internationally, arranging life insurance polices for ultra-high net worth individuals through major insurers such as Prudential (PRU.L) and Manulife (MFC.TO).
The broking firm has already arranged policies with premiums totalling $1.2 billion in the first half, equivalent to its business for the whole of 2021, which was itself a record year, Lo said.
COVID-19 has increased demand for life insurance for the super-rich, as they become more aware of their mortality.
“Whenever there’s some sort of pandemic disaster, life insurance generally does all right” Lo said. “Demand for our services is huge.”
The previous loose monetary environment has left the super-wealthy with ample cash to deploy, and life insurance helps to ease the tax burden from the old to new generation, he said.
Pay-outs on the policies give rich families access to ready cash which can be used to pay inheritance tax bills. The policies can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lo is looking to set up an office in London this year to service the 8-9% of his clients who have a UK presence.
Lo also runs a wealth management business and is looking into buying commercial property in London, though he said it was not without risk.
“Property prices in the UK are expensive, some would argue severely overvalued,” he said, adding that “it’s almost hard to value it, every property is so old”.
Lo bought the five-star Mandarin Oriental Taipei for $1.2 billion in 2018 and is considering similar investments in London.
“If you have liquidity…it’s maybe something to look at.”
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Additional reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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A man wearing a protective mask, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, walks past an electronic board displaying various countries’ stock indexes including Russian Trading System (RTS) Index which is empty, outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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HONG KONG, July 26 (Reuters) – Asian shares pared losses on Tuesday as investor sentiment improved on China’s reported plans to tackle a debt crisis in real estate development.
MSCI’s broadest gauge of Asia stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) bounced back to a gain of 0.36% in afternoon sessions. Chinese stocks jumped after reports the country would set up a fund of up to $44 billion to help property developers. read more
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (.HSI) was 1.48% higher and China’s benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300) also widened gains to a rise of 0.91% at the morning close. Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) fell 0.08%, erasing some morning losses.
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FTSE futures edged up 0.15%. U.S. markets are likely to open lower, with E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index down 0.32%.
U.S. retailer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) cut its profit forecast on Monday and said customers were paring back discretionary purchases as inflation bit into household budgets. Shares fell 10% after hours. read more
Investors are also awaiting a likely 75 basis point Federal Reserve interest rate increase later this week – with markets pricing about a 10% risk of a larger hike, as well as waiting to see whether economic warning signs prompt a shift in rhetoric.
“We are leaning to the view that 75 bps is most likely but won’t be the end unless they see some demand destruction and some tempering of inflation,” said John Milroy, an investment adviser at Ord Minnett.
“We are fearful they have to materially slow the U.S. economy further.”
Big technology companies such as Apple (AAPL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com are due to report earnings this week.
“The market has stabilized” from rate hike expectations, said Redmond Wong, Greater China market strategist at Saxo Markets in Hong Kong. “The focus is now on earnings.”
In China, “maintaining stability is the key theme,” said Wong on likely outcomes from politburo meetings expected to begin this week.
In currencies, the dollar was marginally softer but not drifting too far below recent milestone highs as uncertainty continued to swirl around the interest rate and economic outlook.
The euro rose 0.21% to $1.0240 but was hemmed in by uncertainty over Europe’s energy security, which is not helped by a looming cut in the westbound flow of Russian gas. read more
The yen steadied at 136.54 per dollar. The U.S. dollar index , which touched a 20-year high this month, was down slightly at 106.380.
Oil prices rose further on expectations Russia’s reduction in natural gas supply to Europe could encourage a switch to crude, with Brent futures last up 1.27% at $106.45 a barrel and U.S. crude up 1.26% at $97.92 a barrel. read more
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to 2.875% as growth worries gave support to bonds.
Gold hovered at $1,721.8 an ounce and bitcoin nursed overnight losses at $21,111.31.
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Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Sam Holmes
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NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) – U.S. existing home sales fell for a fifth straight month in June to the lowest level in two years, as fast-rising interest rates and record-high selling prices make buying a home too expensive for a growing share of American households.
Mortgage interest rates have soared as a result of the Federal Reserve’s stiff rate hikes to try to tame high inflation. That has driven a new buyer’s monthly payment up by more than 50% in the first six months of 2022 by some estimates and has had a clear effect on home sales that had surged during the COVID-19 pandemic to the highest levels since the mid-2000s.
In June, sales of previously owned homes fell 5.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million units, the lowest level since June 2020 when sales were rebounding from the COVID-19 lockdown slump, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. Sales have now fallen each month since January.
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Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales would decrease to a rate of 5.38 million units. Sales were unchanged in the Northeast and fell in the Midwest, the West and South.
Home resales, which account for nearly 90% of the residential real estate market, dropped 14.2% on a year-on-year basis. The decline brought June’s sales rate to below the pace that prevailed in 2019 before the pandemic.
That was not enough to stall the relentless increase in selling prices, however. The median existing house price climbed 13.4% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $416,000 in June. It was the 23rd straight month of double-digit annual price gains, the longest such run since the late 1970s.
Sales gains remained concentrated in the upper-price end of the market amid a paucity of entry-level houses. Sales of homes priced below $500,000 were down by double-digit margins, led by a 31% year-over-year drop in the $100,000 to $250,000 range, while sales of houses selling for $500,000 and up eked out modest gains.
“Falling housing affordability continues to take a toll on potential home buyers,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Both mortgage rates and home prices have risen too sharply in a short span of time.”
There were 1.26 million previously-owned homes on the market, up 9.6% from May and 2.4% from a year earlier, the first yearly increase since 2019.
With demand cooling, monthly supply is likely to continue to steadily improve. The government reported on Tuesday that housing completions in June decreased 4.6%, but the backlog of homes yet to be built hovered near record highs. read more
At June’s sales pace, it would take 3.0 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, up from 2.6 months in May. A six-to-seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand.
Properties typically remained on the market for 14 days in June, the shortest period ever. First-time buyers accounted for 30% of sales, up from 27% in May. All-cash sales made up 25% of transactions.
HIGHER MORTGAGE RATES
The interest rate-sensitive housing market has softened notably this year as the Fed lifts rates aggressively to blunt inflation that is running at its highest pace in four decades.
The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to nearly 6% in June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, up from about 3.3% at the start of the year, which has put home purchases out of reach for a growing number of prospective buyers. The rate in the latest week was 5.82%, MBA said earlier on Wednesday.
While it is unclear how much higher mortgage rates will climb, it’s almost certain they will remain high for some time with the Fed set to raise interest rates again at its policy meeting next week and more hikes to come through the end of the year.
An Oxford Economics index out last week showed homes were the least affordable in the first quarter of 2022 at any time since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and it forecast that picture would worsen through the rest of this year.
“The increase in both home prices and mortgage rates since the end of 2021 has pushed the monthly mortgage payment on a median priced home up by nearly $700, or 56%, pricing millions of buyers out of the market,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note following Wednesday’s sales data. “We think underlying demand from younger households and investors may keep a floor under home sales, but not if home price growth does not begin to moderate.”
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Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Paul Simao
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A poster with a logo of Foxconn is seen at the IEEE Global Communications Conference in Taipei. Taiwan, December 9, 2020. REUTERS/Ann Wang
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TAIPEI, July 15 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s government is considering fining tech giant Foxconn up to T$25 million ($835,600) over its investment in a Chinese chip conglomerate without first getting regulatory approval, two sources briefed on the matter said on Friday.
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, said this week it has become a shareholder in embattled Chinese chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup via a 5.38 billion yuan ($797 million) investment by a subsidiary. read more
The investment comes as Taiwan turns a wary eye on China’s ambition to boost its semiconductor industry and has proposed new laws to prevent what it says is China stealing its chip technology.
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Foxconn did not seek prior approval from the Taiwan government before the investment was made and authorities believe it has violated a law governing the island’s relations with China, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Regulators are weighing whether to hand Foxconn the “maximum” fine possible, which is $T25 million, due to the large size of the Chinese investment, the person added,
Foxconn referred Reuters to an earlier filing on the stock exchange, saying it will deliver the documents to the Economy Ministry’s Investment Commission in the near future.
A second source said Foxconn could be given a fine of between T$50,000 and T$20 million for investing without approval, adding that regulators will scrutinise the investment and deliver a decision after they receive the company’s application.
“There’s a chance that an approval will be given. If not, Hon Hai will have to withdraw the investment,” the person said, referring to Foxconn’s formal name, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.
Taiwanese law states the government can prohibit investment in China “based on the consideration of national security and industry development.” Those violating the law could be fined repeatedly until corrections are made.
Foxconn, best known for assembling Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhone, is keen to make auto chips in particular as it expands into the electric vehicle market. The company has been seeking to acquire chip plants globally as a worldwide chip shortage rattles producers of goods from cars to electronics.
Taipei prohibits companies from building their most advanced foundries in China to ensure they do not offshore their best technology.
Originating as a branch of China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, Tsinghua Unigroup emerged in the previous decade as a would-be domestic champion for China’s laggard chip industry.
But the company fell into debt under former chairman Zhao Weiguo, prompting it to default on a number of bond payments in late 2020 end eventually face bankruptcy. read more
The conglomerate has yet to produce any global leaders in the semiconductor sector.
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Reporting By Jeanny Kao; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast.
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Bosch logo is seen on a bike during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
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BERLIN, July 13 (Reuters) – Technology group Bosch will invest 3 billion euros ($3.01 billion) in chip production by 2026, including in opening two new development centres and expanding its wafer factory in Dresden, the company said on Wednesday.
The investment, for which Bosch will seek European Union funding under the Important Projects of Common European Interests (IPCEI) framework, should boost Europe’s production capacity for chips in a global market still dominated by U.S. and Asian players.
“Europe can and must capitalize on its own strengths in the semiconductor industry,” said Chief Executive Stefan Hartung. “The goal must be to produce chips for the specific needs of European industry.”
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Bosch last year opened a 1 billion euro chip factory in Dresden, a record investment as it sought to stake its claim in the growing market for chips to equip self-driving and electric cars amid a global shortage. read more
A total of 170 million euros will go into the new development centres in Reutlingen and Dresden, with 250 million euros to be spent on expanding the existing Dresden site.
How the remaining funds will be spent is yet to be decided, Hartung said.
The CEO expects bottlenecks in chip supply, from strained shipping networks to low production capacity, to continue for several more months, even as inflation eases pressure on some parts of the sector by reducing demand for expensive consumer goods.
Bosch’s chips need to be shipped from Germany to Malaysia and back again in the production process, meaning any disturbance to shipping could add weeks to delivery times, Hartung said.
“There are areas where certainly demand will fall such that you can order substantive sums at any time…. there are however also areas where not as much capacity was added and demand is still very high,” he said.
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Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Miranda Murray, Rachel More and Jan Harvey
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SEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) – South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) (373220.KS) plans to reevaluate its investment plan for a standalone Arizona battery factory due to the current U.S. economic environment, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The spokesperson’s comments on the previously announced $1.3 billion investment came after LGES said in a statement that, “Given the unprecedented economic conditions and investment circumstances in the U.S., LG Energy Solution is currently reviewing various investment options.”
The company, South Korea’s biggest player in the booming market for electric vehicles and batteries, said no decisions have been made in its statement, which didn’t mention the Arizona plan.
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LGES shares fell 2.6% in early trading, while the benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) index was down.
The statement comes just three months after LGES, which counts Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), General Motors Co (GM.N) and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) among its customers, announced plans to build a battery factory in Arizona by 2024 to meet demand from startups and other North American customers. read more
LGES said in March the plant would be its first U.S. factory to make cylindrical cells, a type of battery that has been used in Tesla and Lucid vehicles. Construction was to begin in the second quarter of 2022, it said, with mass production to start in 2024.
In the United States, LGES is building three plants with GM in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan and plans to expand its existing factory in Michigan. read more
LGES has production sites in the United States, South Korea, China, Poland, Canada and Indonesia.
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Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Tom Hogue and Kenneth Maxwell
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WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) – The White House said on Tuesday that companies are planning to invest more than $700 million to boost U.S. manufacturing capacity for electric vehicle (EV) chargers – actions set to add at least 2,000 jobs and make charging more accessible and affordable.
The investments include $450 million earmarked by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) unit Electrify America and more than $250 million by Siemens (SIEGn.DE) to expand its Grand Prairie, Texas and Ponoma, California EV charger plants.
FLO, an EV charging network operator, is also investing $3 million in its first U.S. assembly plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
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The investments will help boost U.S. manufacturing capacity for EV chargers to more than 250,000 per year, the White House said, without giving a figure for current production capacity.
Last August, President Joe Biden set a non-binding goal to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric, fuel cell or plug-in hybrid. As part of that, he wants to see the U.S. network of EV chargers grow to 500,000 by 2030, up from about 100,000 today.
The investments by private companies follow more than $7.5 billion in subsidies that were in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law.
Biden’s goals and the subsidies have helped spur private investments, White House deputy national climate advisor Ali Zaidi told reporters on Monday.
That has meant “chargers weren’t getting brought in from overseas (and) they were being a source of opportunity in communities all around the country,” he said in a call about a U.S. report showing jobs in the energy business rose 4% last year, led by jobs in carbon-cutting vehicles. read more
The U.S. public charging network for EVs is becoming more robust, but significant differences in reliability and performance remain between providers, an industry ranking by engineering consulting firm umlaut found this year. read more
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Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
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A electric vehicle charger is seen as a vehicle charges in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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June 28 (Reuters) – German industrial giant Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) is investing more than $100 million in Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) Electrify America unit, becoming the first outside investor in the North American network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Including new funds from its parent Volkswagen, the Electrify America unit would receive a total injection of $450 million, the companies said.
The partnership in Electrify America is “part of a much larger investment that Siemens is making in the electrification market,” said John DeBoer, head of the Siemens’ North American e-mobility unit.
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Electrify America was established by VW in 2017 with a 10-year, $2-billion investment commitment in the wake of the German automaker’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.
The two companies did not specify the exact amount each is contributing to the latest investment, other than to say Siemens’ share is more than $100 million.
Siemens, which is making the investment through financing arm Siemens Financial Services, will be a minority investor with a seat on Electrify America’s board.
A year ago, Reuters reported that VW intended to sell a stake in Electrify America as the automaker hoped to attract up to $1 billion in outside funding to help expand infrastructure for electric vehicles. read more
In an interview, Giovanni Palazzo, Electrify America president and CEO, said the company still plans to more than double its charging infrastructure to 1,800 charging stations and more than 10,000 fast chargers by 2026.
Electrify America has EV charging partnerships with a broad array of vehicle manufacturers outside the Volkswagen Group, including Ford Motor Co (F.N), Hyundai/Kia (005380.KS), BMW (BMWG.DE), Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE), Geely Automobile’s (0175.HK) Volvo and Polestar, and Tesla rival Lucid (LCID.O).
Siemens, which builds charging stations for commercial fleets and other customers, has invested in several electrification companies, including Swedish battery startup Northvolt and wireless charging startup WiTricity, as well as Electrify America competitor ChargePoint (CHPT.N), according to investor website PitchBook.
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Editing by Deepa Babington
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The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
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June 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday requested information on the activities of financial information providers amid growing concerns over their influence on investment decisions, despite not being fully regulated.
Critics have expressed concerns that information providers, particularly index companies such as S&P Global, MSCI (MSCI.N) and FTSE Russell which assist in trillions of dollars of investment decisions globally, have acted as unregulated investment advisors.
“The role of these information providers today raises important questions under the securities laws as to when they are providing investment advice rather than merely information,” U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.
Index providers are currently treated as data publishers by the SEC.
The information gathered will help the watchdog to understand whether information providers should be regulated, given the influence of these companies in driving investment decisions, the statement said.
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Reporting by Akriti Sharma and Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin
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