Paper round: Costain in £60m rights issue

Costain in £60m rights issue
The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that Costain, the construction and engineering company refurbishing St Pancras station, has moved into the black but asked shareholders for £60m. The company posted first-half pre-tax profits of £8m for the first six months to the end of June, compared with a loss of £20.7m last year, but revenue was down to £430m, compared with £436.2m.

Turmoil drives down prices
House prices have seen their biggest monthly fall in five years, said The Daily Telegraph. It reported turmoil in the world’s financial system unnerved both buyers and sellers, according to property website Rightmove.

Housing boom near end, data suggest
The FT reported that new figures from Rightmove showed a 2.6% drop in house prices in September, suggesting an end to Britain’s 12-year housing boom.

House prices feel the heat
A fall in house prices could be on the cards as a result of the credit crisis gripping the UK mortgage market, said The Independent on Sunday. It reported that home loan repayment costs had already been pushed up by market turmoil, shaking confidence in the housing market as a whole.

Lenders snub high-risk borrowers
Homeowners with bad credit histories face being unable to find a mortgage as several specialist lenders rush to remove high-risk offerings from their portfolios, said The Sunday Telegraph. High-profile lenders including Kensington Mortgages and Amber, owned by Skipton Building Society, both removed higher-risk products such as second charge mortgages from the market last week.

Factory Records chief’s vision lives on
The legacy of the late Tony Wilson as a major champion of regeneration will be confirmed today with the renaming of the east Lancs region to Pennine Lancashire, according to The Observer. Wilson and his partner Yvette Livesey released plans to revitalise the area by converting cotton mills in Burnley and masterplanning five town centres in the Pennines.

Crossrail threatens Tube upgrade
Transport for London is concerned that the funding of Crossrail will see the government downscale the Tube maintenance programme, according to Saturday’s Guardian. TfL says that if the government promises to fund a third of Crossrail, it will have no choice but to scale back vital Tube works.

Sarkozy invites top architects to help shape presidential legacy
Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting with 15 of the world’s top architects to discuss how he can deliver a new era of modern architecture to France, according to the Guardian. British architects Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and the Iraqi-British Zaha Hadid will be amongst those attending the opening of Paris’ City of Architecture museum on Monday before meeting with the French president.

Insurers claim win over Tesco
The weekend FT reported that insurers have claimed victory in a preliminary legal battle with Tesco over costs resulting from the 2005 tunnel collapse at Gerrards Cross.

Crossrail gets green light
The Sunday Times reported that Gordon Brown is poised to give the green light to Crossrail. It said the prime minister and senior ministers were putting the finishing touches to the funding arrangements for the transport project over the weekend and an announcement is expected as early as this week or next week.

Minister tells public schools to set up academies for poor
The government is to risk clashes with backbenchers and teaching unions by calling for top public schools to set up their own city academies, according to The Sunday Times.