AIM listings dominated by mining April 22, 2012 Nine companies listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market in the first three months of 2012 – an increase of one company compared to the same time last year, but with 30 per cent less money raised. The figure fell from £67m to £46.9m, according to analysis by Deloitte. In the first quarter 25 companies also [...]
Omega rebels demand board heads for exit April 22, 2012 ACTIVIST shareholders have lashed out at struggling insurer Omega, saying that they expect the firm to “do the right thing” and initiate a boardroom shake-up. Investors who are exasperated with the company’s poor results under chief executive Richard Pexton have now publicly set their sights on removing him and a number of other directors. Yesterday [...]
Aviva prepares to take a £1bn hit on US unit April 22, 2012 INSURANCE giant Aviva is expected to announce the sale of its American life assurance business next month, on which it will make a loss of £1bn. Chief executive Andrew Moss is set to announce the sale at an investor day on May 24 as part of a wider strategic overhaul of the company, according to [...]
FORMER LIB DEM DONOR EXTRADITED TO BRITAIN April 22, 2012 Convicted fraudster and former Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown is facing extradition to the UK, four years after being found guilty of stealing from clients who thought he was a bond trader. Brown, currently being held in Madrid after being deported from the Dominican Republic, donated £2.4m to the Lib Dems in 2005.
Panel blames Budget for Tories’ poll tumble April 22, 2012 GEORGE Osborne’s Budget is chiefly responsible for the Conservative party’s recent tumble in the opinion polls, according to our readers’ panel. The single biggest reason our panellists gave for Conservative support crumbling in recent weeks was simply the Budget as a whole, with one in five blaming Osborne’s entire red book for the party’s recent [...]
Roche looks to alternatives after bid snub April 22, 2012 SWISS drugmaker Roche is looking for alternatives after it dropped a $6.8bn (£4.22bn) hostile offer for genetic specialist Illumina, a German newspaper reported yesterday. Roche is talking to the research centres of three large universities about buying their gene sequencing technology, Der Sonntag newspaper reported, without citing its sources. Roche walked away from its bid [...]
LOSSES WIDEN AT UNIQLO April 22, 2012 Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo widened its UK losses frpm £739,000 to £9.7m in the year to 31 August 2011, according to Companies House filings. The firm, which said turnover fell slightly to £63m, said the loss was partly due to accounting and lease changes. But Uniqlo still aims to expand in the UK and has [...]
Leahy offers Tesco answers at Hay Festival April 22, 2012 INVESTORS seeking to find out what’s going wrong at supermarket chain Tesco might want to indulge their literary side and buy a ticket to this year’s Hay Festival – as the firm’s former chief executive is set to appear at the event. Terry Leahy, who led the firm for 14 years before quitting last spring, [...]
LONDON MARATHON 2012 April 22, 2012 The normally quiet Sunday streets in the City came alive yesterday as more than 37,000 runners ran the 26.2 mile London marathon. Runners included many hundreds of City workers, most of whom raised money for their favourite charities. There was a 101 year-old man running, as well as the shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who clocked [...]
Female accountants see gender as barrier April 22, 2012 HALF of female accountants consider their gender to be a barrier to success despite the fact that the pay gap between men and women is narrowing. According to accountancy recruiting firm Marks Sattin, 51 per cent of women – compared to 12 per cent of men – believe that their gender inhibits career progression. The [...]