Aviva offloads its Australian life unit June 21, 2009 INSURANCE giant Aviva last night announced that it is to sell Aviva Austalia Holdings, its Australian life and pensions business and wealth management platform, to National Australia Bank (NAB). Aviva is expected to pocket A$925m (£452m) from the deal. The group will gain A$825m cash consideration from NAB on completion, with a further amount of [...]
Economists increasingly bullish on GDP forecasts June 21, 2009 ANOTHER respected economist has joined the growing tally of experts raising their growth forecasts for the coming year, after a raft of improved economic data injected a note of optimism into the City. Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight, now believes GDP will contract by 3.7 per cent this year [...]
Marston’s plans to build 60 new public houses June 21, 2009 PUBS group Marston’s yesterday said it would invest £140m to build 60 pubs starting this summer, which would create more than 2,500 jobs in England and Wales. The company, which last week said it planned to raise about £176m through a deeply discounted, fully underwritten 11-for-10 rights issue, said it would deliver the pubs over [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 21, 2009 RECKITT BENCKISERMorgan Stanley analysts reiterated their “overweight” stance on Reckitt Benckiser, the UK consumer goods producer, stating fundamentals remain strong and the share price is attractive. They said Reckitt is now trading at the cheapest multiples – around 13.7x PE – seen since Reckitt & Coleman and Benckiser merged in December 1999. CARPHONE WAREHOUSERBS raised [...]
Jewellery couple set to sparkle June 21, 2009 The former owners of Links of London, John Ayton and Annoushka Ducas, are set to return to the jewellery business with the creation of a new gold collection to be named “Annoushka”. The husband and wife team pocketed £50m from the sale of Links of London in 2006. The couple acquired the new Pascal jewellery [...]
M&S to start search in Autumn June 21, 2009 High street bellwether Marks&Spencer will start the hunt for a new chief executive in September, with Sir Stuart Rose set to make an early departure next year. The City is convinced M&S will appoint an external candidate, with Justin King of J Sainsbury, Andy Bond of Asda and Kate Swann of WH Smith all considered [...]
Park and ride out the downturn June 21, 2009 The property downturn appears not to have hit road users in Mayfair: a parking space has just been put on the market for £110,000. The space is in a secure underground car park on Hill Street, below an apartment block, and is for sale on a new lease of 150 years through Wetherell estate agents. [...]
House asking prices slip back in June June 21, 2009 THE average asking price of a UK property has fallen by 0.4 per cent this month, according to data from property website Rightmove, ending the string of good housing data over the past few weeks. June marked the first fall in five months due to hesitation by sellers and continued tight credit conditions. But on [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS FOR THE UK HOUSING MARKET ? June 21, 2009 NICK BATES MERRILL LYNCHIt has picked up over the past few months – you’ve seen realised mortgage approvals picking up a bit from their troughs and there seem to be improvements in credit supply conditions, but supply is still relatively tight. It’s a mixed housing market at the moment and overall, a lot of the [...]
Stewart: Run of divi cuts has bottomed June 21, 2009 RENOWNED equity analyst Alex Stewart has urged income investors to stop focusing on avoiding stocks they fear will cut their dividends in the recession, as the cycle of dividend-cuts begins to slow. Stewart, who recently joined Evolution Securities from Dresdner, said income investors should instead focus on stocks that look likely to be able to [...]