Standard Life sees positive start to year February 3, 2010 INSURER Standard Life kicked off the sector’s reporting season with forecast-beating annual sales yesterday following a pick-up in market conditions in the second half of last year. The UK’s fifth biggest insurer by market value reported total life and pensions sales of £14.7bn on a present value of new business premiums basis – down by [...]
RUGBY DEAL KICKS OFF February 3, 2010 England Rugby stars Lewis Moody, Steve Borthwick and Johnny Wilkinson were yesterday projected 50m tall onto the Lloyd’s Building, marking an agreement with business insurer QBE to become official insurance partner of England Rugby. The image greeted City workers on both their morning and evening commutes with a message of support for the England team [...]
BACK TO THE GREEN HOUSE FOR DE BLONAY February 3, 2010 THE City’s resident “Swiss funds fox”, Guy de Blonay, has barely warmed up his seat after his high-profile return to fund management group Jupiter, but already things are settling comfortably back into their old ways. De Blonay officially took up his new position at the group a week ago, after leaving his first job at [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY BOUNCING BACK? February 3, 2010 DUNCAN HALL | FINNCAP Standard Life obviously strengthened in the last quarter. The industry will have a spring in its step with the improving news. There is now a trend towards third party funding and looking overseas. The UK is a low grade economy and insurers are having to be more imaginative. MARCUS BARNARD ORIEL [...]
Autonomy is upbeat after surge in sales February 3, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest software firm took on the doubters yesterday, as it reported a 53 per cent jump in fourth quarter sales. Founder and chief executive Dr Mike Lynch – often dubbed Britain’s Bill Gates – said improvements in the macroeconomic environment would push sales higher in 2010. The firm said that a fall in margins [...]
Capitalise on the confusion February 3, 2010 AUTONOMY divides the bulls and the bears more than most companies. In some respects, the bears have a point. There have always been nagging doubts about the firm’s ability to generate cash; the fourth quarter was no exception, with cash conversion down at 58 per cent compared to 64 per cent in 2008 and 2007. [...]
Umbers leaves his perch at Evolution Securities February 3, 2010 ANDREW Umbers stepped down yesterday as chief executive of the securities arm at investment bank Evolution, after leading a recruiting drive over the course of the crisis. Umbers did not give a reason for his decision, but said: “I now feel the time is right for me to pursue opportunities elsewhere.” Group chief executive Alex [...]
UK ECONOMY February 3, 2010 QUANTITATIVE EASING should come to an end this month, according to a majority of members of City A.M.’s shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), ahead of the Bank of England’s decision scheduled for midday today. Seven members recommended that the policy should be paused in February leaving the £200bn of assets bought so far intact, while [...]
City A.M. | Shadow mpc February 3, 2010 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “Suspend QE, for the time being at least. A strong signal should be sent that a symbolic rate rise is imminent. It is hard to work out what is happening to liquidity but there seems to be enough of it at present.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Stop QE and prepare [...]
Toyota recall hits UK February 3, 2010 TOYOTA will recall over 180,000 vehicles in the UK as part of the ongoing faulty accelerator saga. The embattled car maker says it is working with the DVLA to identify owners of vehicles with faulty accelerator pedals. The vast clean-up operation is over a £9 part that takes just 30 minutes to repair. At least [...]