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Osborne’s brave move for housing fairness: Bravo for the bravest budget in living memory, most notable for the Chancellor’s pledge to create “a fairer property market” by cutting taxpayer subsidies for landlords

No brickbats, we can build on this: So, that’s the roof terrace sorted. Who cares what the neighbours think? Won’t be any higher than the multi-storey car park that’s sort of next door, though maybe not quite such an architectural triumph

Homes ‘£2,500 cheaper’ as zero-carbon plan dropped: A plan to make all new homes “zero carbon” from next year has been abandoned by the government in a move which house builders say will save the average buyer £2,500.

Owning hotels is an unnecessary luxury for remodelled IHG: A leading hotel group that includes the Holiday Inn chain completed a 12-year journey from asset-heavy to asset-light by announcing the sale of its luxury InterContinental Hong Kong to a local investment consortium for $938 million.

America’s shale drillers add to rising oil: The global oil glut showed no sign of easing as American oil companies added more drilling rigs to their operations for the second week in a row and the International Energy Agency predicted that prices may not have bottomed out.

Oil prices ended sharply lower last week, amid growing expectations of Iran reaching a nuclear deal with six world powers and adding to the global oil supply glut. Moreover, a sharp selloff in Chinese markets earlier in the week and the EIA’s report of an unexpected increase in US oil inventories weakened oil prices further. Meanwhile, Iran talks resumed past the deadline. Brent crude oil prices fell 2.6% to $58.73/barrel

I have only just seen your reply to my comments on this BB on Tuesday of this week. Whilst I do not entirely disagree with your calculations; in the interests of objectivity and balance;, I invite you to read my post again as I do not wish to mislead you or indeed any other existing or potential new shareholder. I stated the company is fully funded for this year i.e until 31st Dec 2015. My assumptions are: 1. The money raised is sufficient to complete the drilling for the proposed upgrade in current Resource Estimate. 2. Beutong should be on care and maintenance and given the bureaucracy in Indonesia; it is my guess that the mining licence will take 9-12 months to come through. 3. Similarly; I expect the Gold potential will be on the back burner this year until the Resource Upgrade results in a higher valuation of the company by Dec/Jan I believe the corporate overheads needs to be reviewed as they are higher than expected for a company which currently is focusing on one area of its operations to deliver shareholder value going forward. Whilst the performance of the company in the past has been plainly unacceptable in terms of shareholder value creation; I believe the current management should be judged within 18 months from their arrival i.e by end of June 2016. ATB

Intercontinental Hotels has sold its five-star Hong Kong hotel for US$938m cash to a consortium of investors, but will retain a 37-year management contract on the building, with three 10-year extension rights. The sale of the 503-room hotel on the Kowloon waterfront, which has three Michelin-starred restaurants and a wide range of state-of-the-art meeting and banqueting facilities, "highlights the enduring appeal of InterContinental as one of the world's leading luxury hotel brands", said chief executive Richard Solomons.

Hammerson has agreed to sell its interest in Grand Maine shopping centre to a French institutional investor for €63.2m. The company said this disposal, along with the recent sale of Bercy 2, Paris, represents an opportunity to take advantage of strong investor demand for retail real estate assets and achieve good pricing ahead of book value.

Premier Oil highlights recent progress on West of Shetland project: Premier Oil has hailed the increase in productivity achieved on a key field development project West of Shetland, on which it has faced big challenges

Buy Unite for student property returns: Investors can benefit from the growing demand for university accommodation through buying shares in Unite. The FTSE 250-listed company has managed to build up a dominant position in the U.K. student property market. Unite’s U.K. Student Accommodation Fund (U.S.AF), in which it holds a 22% stake, was valued at £1.98 billion at the end of the second quarter – a 4% rise on the same period last year. Property investing is ultimately a yield play. Borrowing cheaply and delivering stable rental income will generate profits and see the value of the property portfolio increase. The shares are backed by the underlying value in the two property portfolios. Analysts from JP Morgan Cazenove estimate the net asset value of Unite will be about 550p per share at the end of December. Unite’s dividends have more than doubled from 4.8p in 2013 to 11.2p last year, and are expected to increase by more than 15% each year for the next two years. The shares are up 66% since our “buy” recommendation on August 30, 2013. However, we still think there is more steady capital growth to come, so retain that advice. Unite at 595.5p+13p. Questor says “Buy.”

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.78% or $0.46 higher at $59.07 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract climbed 2.73% or $1.56, to settle at $58.61 per barrel, triggered by a deadlock in the Iran nuke deal and a rebound in China’s stock markets. Meanwhile, crude also received support from positive economic data from Germany and Japan, lifting demand prospects.

ousebuilder Barratt Developments said in a trading update that it expects to see a 45% increase in full-year profit amid continued strong demand in the housing market. The company said the average selling price for private home was up around 8% to £262,000, driven by further changes in mix and underlying house price inflation.

Booker’s sales rise as it awaits green light for Londis takeover: Booker Group, which owns food wholesalers including Makro, unveiled a 0.4% rise in first-quarter sales, while it awaits regulatory clearance to complete its takeover of Budgens and Londis.

West End retailers take control of shops: Retailers on Oxford Street and Bond Street are increasingly seeking to take control of their shops, with stores owned by brands rising 28% and seven% respectively over the past two years.

North Sea player closes in on funding for East of Shetland field: North Sea-focused Independent Oil & Gas appears to be closing in on securing funding to bring an oil field East of Shetland into production.

House prices crash through the £200,000 ceiling for the first time: The average cost of a home in Britain has breached the £200,000 threshold for the first time, after house prices edged up in June

Buy-to-let: How ‘s Budget will affect landlords: Landlords across the U.K. will be hit in the pocket after the Chancellor announced that he is reducing tax relief on private rented homes, in an attempt to quell the economic risk posed by the booming buy-to-let market.

Timing is everything: Unusually, there were few gags in Galliford Try’s trading update on Wednesday: 2014 was a record year, said Chairman Greg Fitzgerald with a straight face. But timing is everything in business as well as in comedy, and Galliford’s 51-year-old master builder has both, apparently, in spades. Nonetheless, the company’s management under incoming Chief Executive Peter Truscott must kick the bricks and question whether Mr Fitzgerald is right to want to double the company’s bet on construction. After all, they will be left running the show when Mr Fitzgerald quits Galliford for good in 2017. But for now, construction is delivering margins of little over 1%, against 15% plus for house building, and brickies are still charging a grand a week. Rising house prices protect housebuilders but general builders can only try to manage the cash flow and keep going.

Rosneft buys stake in Essar Oil refinery in India: Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, has agreed to buy up to 49% of a refinery owned by India’s Essar Oil as part of a long-term supply deal, the two groups said on Wednesday.