Insurers set to take £1.1bn hit after flooding March 12, 2014 THE WETTEST winter on record and flood and storm damage caused as a result is likely to cost the insurance industry £1.1bn, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). A total of 17,500 claims were received in the period between 23 December 2013 and 28 February this year; 9,000 from homeowners, 5,400 for flooded [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 March 2014 March 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES HS2 chairman finds £1.5bn savings The new head of HS2 has identified at least £1.5bn in potential cost savings in London alone from the project’s £50bn budget but will warn MPs that the best way to save money on the line is to build it faster than planned. Sir David Higgins took over [...]
Traders paw off Pets at Home as shares fall back March 12, 2014 PETS at Home shares fell by a whisker in initial trading yesterday as the £1.2bn float was left in the shade by a strong debut from fellow high street chain Poundland. Pets, which floated at 245p yesterday morning, ended the day trading around 243p after falling as low as 230p during a rocky start in [...]
Frustrated investors miss out in stampede for Poundland shares March 12, 2014 THE immense popularity of the share listing for the discount retailer Poundland meant that, as with AO World last week, many funds received nothing from the allocation process. Demand for the shares, which traded at a 22 per cent premium to their issue price yesterday, exceeded expectations and orders came in around 15 times oversubscribed. [...]
Ex-Goldman banker Fabulous Fab ordered to pay $825,000 fine March 12, 2014 FORMER Goldman Sachs employee Fabrice Tourre was served an $825,000 (£496,840) fine yesterday, bringing an end to one of the best-known legal cases surrounding the financial crisis. Tourre came to be known as “Fabulous Fab” due to a string of lurid and damning emails which emerged during legal proceedings. He had already been found liable [...]
How Co-op may be downgraded if reforms falter March 12, 2014 THE TROUBLED Co-operative Group could lose its credit rating if it does not turn itself around, ratings agency analysts warned yesterday. Its reformist chief executive Euan Sutherland quit this week after failing to win over opponents on the group’s board. Sutherland will not be replaced until Lord Myners has completed his review of the mutual’s [...]
Labour’s mixed message on EU has business leaders divided March 12, 2014 ED MILIBAND’S commitment to an in/out referendum on EU membership only if powers are transferred to Brussels has drawn a mixed response from business leaders and politicians. The Confederation of British Industry praised Miliband for ending “uncertainty” over the decision to stay or leave the EU, but members of his own party said the policy [...]
New think tank report lays out looming UK liability time bomb March 12, 2014 THE TREASURY will have to impose massive tax hikes or spending cuts to stem the country’s liabilities time bomb, according to concerning research released today. A report for the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) says that that the UK faces the choice of cutting spending by more than a quarter, or raising steep taxes. “Without [...]
Green car hire scheme comes to London March 12, 2014 LONDON drivers will from next year be able to hire an electric car for 15 minutes at a time, along the lines of the Paris Autolib scheme, under plans unveiled by French industrialist Vincent Bollore yesterday. Bollore, the firm taking over the existing network of 1,500 electric charging points this summer, plans to launch a [...]
G4S agrees to tagging payout as profits slide March 12, 2014 SCANDAL-STRUCK outsourcing firm G4S could still be liable for criminal charges relating to the prisoner tagging scandal, the government said yesterday, as the firm agreed to a £108.9m settlement. “I am satisfied on the basis of PwC’s forensic audit, and having taken appropriate advice, that this represents a good deal for the taxpayer,” said justice [...]