Shell slashes US spend as shale fails to deliver March 13, 2014 THE FORMER chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell had his pay halved last year in light of the oil giant’s “disappointing” performance, as the FTSE 100 firm unveiled its plans to slash its US upstream spending by 20 per cent. Peter Voser, who stepped down at the end of 2013, took home £7.2m, down from [...]
Premier warns investors: More defaults will happen in China March 13, 2014 A STRING of disappointing figures about the Chinese economy were released yesterday, while the country’s Premier, Li Keqiang, warned it is “unavoidable” that there will be more large-scaled defaults on bonds. “We are reluctant to see defaults of financial products, but some cases are hard to avoid,” Li said. “We have been paying great attention [...]
Bottom Line: This is the end of the big four supermarkets March 13, 2014 DALTON Philips kicked off more than just a price war yesterday. By promising to slash prices in an effort to turn around Morrisons’ fortunes, he also exposed a growing schism at the heart of the British grocery market. For years, supermarket analysts have talked about the big four (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons) but with [...]
Insurance giants deliver £20bn hit to F&C funds March 13, 2014 FUND manager F&C yesterday said it still faced “financial headwinds” after the pot of money it manages shrank due to big redemptions by insurance investors. The business, which is currently in the midst of a takeover by finance giant Bank of Montreal, said assets under management fell 14 per cent after its insurance clients pulled [...]
Analyst Views: Do the F&C results change your view of the proposed takeover? March 13, 2014 MICHAEL SANDERSON | SOCIETE GENERALE F&C has made progress on its strategic repositioning. However, we move our rating from ‘buy’ to “hold” as see a relatively limited probability of another bidder emerging at this point, and even if another bidder were to emerge, we would not expect a counter offer to be as high as [...]
Profit down 12 per cent at Bupa after a year of big acquisitions March 13, 2014 HEALTH insurer Bupa has announced a 12 per cent drop in pre-tax profits for 2013, down to £514.4m despite growing its customer base by 57 per cent. The group posted an eight per cent increase in revenue to £9.1bn, the first time in Bupa’s history that it has exceeded £9bn. Chief executive Stuart Fletcher said [...]
Europe slams Italy’s failure to balance budget March 13, 2014 NEW ITALIAN Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s reform announcements earlier this week were not enough to avoid criticism from the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday. The ECB’s monthly bulletin argued that “no tangible progress” had been made by successive Italian governments toward the European Commission’s aim for a balanced structural budget. The report added that the [...]
Groups push for reform not ban of zero hour working contracts March 13, 2014 ZERO hours contracts should be reformed rather than banned, according to announcements from two organisations today, following a consultation on the practice. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says that the government should act against exclusivity clauses rather than the contracts themselves. The change would mean that employers could not prevent employees from [...]
Employment tribunal claims plummet as new fees come in March 13, 2014 FEES introduced by the government last year have discouraged staff from bringing legal cases against their employer, new statistics suggest. Figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Justice show there were 79 per cent fewer tribunals brought between October and December last year, compared to the same period in 2012. Since July 2013 employees must [...]
Price soars as bond investors go loco for Lloyds’ new coco March 13, 2014 THE PRICE of Lloyds capital notes has soared in recent weeks as the bank prepares to swap them for contingent convertible (coco) bonds. The bank is issuing up to £5bn of the new instruments, but the only way to get hold of them is to hold the enhanced capital notes (ECNs) which the bank is retiring. However, [...]