Bargains help New Look to book a profit June 3, 2009 BUDGET clothing retailer New Look said yesterday it snatched market share from high street rivals Marks & Spencer and Next in the year to end March, as the recession caused consumers to seek cheaper fashion alternatives. The group, owned jointly by founder Tom Singh and private equity giants Permira and Apax, reported a pre-tax profit [...]
Swiss regulators in bonus crack down June 3, 2009 SWITZERLAND’S financial regulator is proposing new rules to align executive reward more closely with long-term profits and will pay special attention to UBS, the Swiss bank bailed out by the government. The Swiss Market Supervisory Authority, known as Finma, said it would tighten up rules in remuneration by January 2010, to prevent companies from offering [...]
Lloyds unveils fresh job cuts June 3, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group continued its drip-feed of job cut announcements yesterday, revealing 530 fresh redundancies and one site closure. The bank said 210 people would lose their jobs with the closure of a customer service unit in Kent, while 320 more will go in retail banking. The latest round of cuts come just a month [...]
Aviva payout goes to voters June 3, 2009 POLICYHOLDERS at insurance group Aviva are being sent voting packs outlining the proposed “reattribution” of surplus funds at the company. Aviva is asking its customers to accept payments of a minimum of £200 to forego any future share of surplus cash. Those who vote “yes” will receive payments in November 2009. The deal, which has [...]
Osmond set for lesser role June 3, 2009 HUGH Osmond’s role at Pearl Assurance, the highly-indebted insurance group, will be the subject of intense debate over the next few days as banks and shareholders close in on a refinancing deal. The banks have made it a condition of the deal that Osmond’s influence on the company is reduced, City A.M. has learned. In [...]
Heritage Oil shares halted as it admits to takeover talks June 3, 2009 UK-BASED oil explorer Heritage Oil is in early-stage merger talks, it said yesterday, after its shares were suspended. The group, which made a significant oil find in Uganda earlier this year and has potential for development in a Kurdish region of Iraq, said it was in talks with a third party about a possible reverse [...]
CAUSING A SPLASH June 3, 2009 UTILITY Northumbrian Water (NWG) said its full-year pre-tax profits slumped by 10.3 per cent to £152.7m in the year to 31 March, as high energy costs and a fall in demand, particularly from industrial customers, hit the company. NWG, which supplies water and sewage services to North East England, said its sales were up four [...]
Hunt for new ITV chief executive moves up a gear June 3, 2009 ITV yesterday moved a step closer to appointing a chief executive to succeed Michael Grade, as recruitment agency Russell Reynolds began drawing up a shortlist of candidates. With shareholders becoming impatient to appoint a leader to take the struggling commercial broadcaster forward, former BSkyB boss and current chairman of German media group Kable Deutchland Tony [...]
Shadow MPC divided over policy moves June 3, 2009 DESPITE early signs of an economic recovery, interest rates should be kept on hold at 0.5 per cent according to all nine of City A.M.’s shadow MPC committee, ahead of the Bank of England’s June monetary policy decision due today at midday. The Bank of England has already announced asset purchases of £125bn out of [...]
Asia tycoons jump on AIG fund arm sale June 3, 2009 ASIAN investors are scrambling to add their names to the consortium of buyers set to snap up AIG’s asset management unit, which is being sold as part of the insurer’s fire-sale to repay its US government bailout loans. Singapore’s Temasek and the Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li are close to joining a consortium, led by [...]