Saga suspends cruises in £15m coronavirus blow March 13, 2020 British travel group Saga today suspended cruises until the start of May over the escalating coronavirus outbreak, at a cost of between £10m and £15m to the company. Saga’s move follows rival Carnival’s decision to suspend all Princess cruise ship voyages for two months. One of its ocean liners, the Diamond Princess, was an early [...]
Saga takes £4m hit from Thomas Cook collapse January 28, 2020 Over-50s insurer Saga has said underlying profit before tax will meet expectations despite the company taking a £4m hit from the administration of Thomas Cook. However, it warned home and motor insurance policies will pull in revenue three per cent lower than the previous year. But margins will still hit the higher end of Saga’s [...]
Saga to sell care operations under Elliott break-up threat December 8, 2019 Travel and insurance company Saga today put its care business up for sale, under pressure from activist US hedge fund Elliott Advisers. The FTSE 250 firm is working with accountants Grant Thornton on the sale of live-in care brands Patricia White’s and Country Cousins, which brought in £4m in revenue last year and have 1,500 [...]
Sorry not sorry: End the apology culture in business October 15, 2019 When David Neeleman, the founder of American airline JetBlue, published a YouTube video entitled “Our Promise to You” in 2007, it was the first corporate social media apology. The video set the standard for modern crisis management. Snow storms and bad planning had forced the airline to cancel more than a thousand flights, affecting over [...]
Half of motorists think charging loyal car insurance customers more should be illegal April 24, 2019 Fifty per cent of motorists think it should be illegal for insurers to charge existing customers more than new customers for the same cover, a new survey said today. The research by price comparison site Go Compare showed 61 per cent of participants felt insurers treat existing customers less favourably by charging those who renew [...]
Mike Ashley among Debenhams shareholders wiped out April 18, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. One of the most intriguing City soap operas is over for investors as lenders seize control of Debenhams. The fight for survival at Debenhams (LSE:DEB) stores goes on, but for investors the suspension of shares signalled the final act in a grim 13 years of stock market trading. The [...]
Best 25 stocks in the last tax year April 15, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. The FTSE 100 outperformed mid-caps last tax year, but the top FTSE 350 performers might surprise you. Take a look at the financial year ended on the 5th April, with the 25 top performing stocks in the FTSE 350 all producing gains of 40 per cent or more over the [...]
Home insurers make 100 per cent of profits from loyal customers April 10, 2019 Home insurance companies make 100 per cent of their profits from penalising loyal customers, new research shows. A study published today by Citizens Advice found home insurers make all their profits – amounting to over £1bn a year – from loyal customers holding policies for six years or more. The research showed that loyal customers [...]
Saga shares plunge 36 per cent after it announces £310m writedown and slashes dividend April 4, 2019 Over-50s travel and insurance company Saga lost a third of its value this morning after it said it was more than halving its dividend as it crashed to a £134.6m loss. Its share price plunged 35 per cent to 68p after its shock announcement. Read more: Saga set to hit profit guidance after sales cruise [...]
Kraft Heinz share price plunges as SEC probe and losses spook Wall Street February 22, 2019 Consumer goods giant Kraft Heinz’s share price plunged almost 30 per cent this evening as a probe from US investigators and widening quarterly losses spooked investors. Shares in the company plummeted on Wall Street this afternoon as the firm wrote down the value of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands by $15bn (£11.5bn) and reported [...]