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0 Comments We hear that the Financial Services Authority has issued a fresh warning to investors in certain Connaught funds series, after Connaught failed to pay the quarterly interest payment. The funds affected are income series 1 and 2.
Our highly regarded customers and Yorkshire couple, Dave & Kerry Woodhead who own Pinewood Holiday Park in Scarborough are celebrating after winning a business award from Dragon’s Den Theo Paphitis.
Dave and Kerry travelled down to Birmingham to meet up with other winners for a networking event. This was followed by a talk from Theo and then a chance to meet him.
Theo decided to host his very first SBS event, and invited every SBS winner to an event in Birmingham. This gave all winners the chance to meet one another and offer each other business advice. The event was sponsored by Ryman; one of the companies which Theo owns.
Despite recent gales and torrential rain and the country looking and feeling like a sponge, believe it or not, parts of England remain in underlying drought. Times look somewhat better for our beef and sheep producers in 2012. The drought in South America has impacted on markets for maize (and hence wheat), soya and hence oilseed rape. Prices have risen in the short term, but profit-taking by institutional investors appears to be reducing the impact. Farm and Country Finance will continue to support the farming and rural communities in the year ahead with its offering of sources of farm finance.
After the turkey, the trimmings, the beverages and all the excess, the New Year will be upon us with yet more excess. Perhaps, then, one or two of you might be thinking of joining a gym.
If joining a gym is on your New Year resolutions list, make sure you read the small print of the contract before signing up.
We are receiving a number of enquiries from customers looking for finance for renewable energy projects, especially finance for solar panels. We are finding that these are often ‘sold’ with statistics that show that the project ought to be a ‘no brainer’, in terms of a return on investment. As ever, it is important to get the right advice and we can point customers in the direction of specialist firms that deal with the planning and implementation of renewable energy projects.
Land banking is where an area of land is acquired, by alleged ‘developers’, which is then sub-divided into smaller plots . These are then sold, often under the false pretext that planning consent for development will be granted. Needless to say, prices are grossly inflated above true values.
I am pleased to say that we have not had many enquiries for land finance for this type of thing, though we had a recent enquiry, for farm finance, where the customer was trying to refinance land that apparently had huge hope value. He had a valuation report to back it up but we were not convinced.
We have been receiving a number of enquiries about farm bridging finance. Some of these have come from farmers who are sitting tenants, wanting to buy their farm from a landlord. For example, the Duchy of Lancaster has been selling off a lot of land in 2011. Often there is a huge gain to be had from a sitting tenant buying their property, because they can do so at a substantial discount.
Not surprisingly, we are getting a number of enquiries for finance for renewable energy projects. Whilst we get some enquiries for finance for anaerobic digestion plants (where the investment is higher) most enquiries are for finance for wind turbines or finance for solar panels.
A recent announcement by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) could spell progress for some on-farm anaerobic digestion projects, but the news might not be so good for small to medium solar electricty schemes.
Back at the beginning of August this year we published our post ‘Call us and save £70,000.’
This explained a lot about farm finance and especially bridging finance for a farm. We compared the way we handled this case with the way another company handled it and the savings we created. We said that the other company had changed the term bridging finance to opportunity finance – there are opportunities out there, that’s for sure, though we believe that our customers should take advantage of the opportunities they find and not the arrangers of finance. This means ensuring that any finance is truly in their best interests, which comes about by being honest and trustworthy served with a dollop of integrity.
According to the most recent Land Market Survey by the Royal Institue of Chartered Surveyors, farmland prices reached an all time high in the first half of 2011 with an estimated average price of a shade over £6,000 per acre.
Demand is far outsripping supply – 50% of respondents to the survey reported increases in demand largely driven by commercial farmers looking to expand their production because of high commodity prices. Land availability increased for the first time in three years, although these increases were not enough to keep pace with the growing level of demand.
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